Make Me Smile
by yunakitty
Summary: ChelseaxVaughn. Island of Happiness for DS. Chelsea gets a crush on the rough cowboy, and he begins to want her as well. Lime content from Chapter 7 on, Lemon from Chapter 10 on.
1. Nice to Meet You

"I need a boyfriend

"I need a boyfriend."

Natalie sipped her tea and raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. "Where is this coming from?"

I sighed and toyed with my teacup. "I'm just lonely. I mean, it's great having you as a friend and all, " I hastily explained as she looked a little annoyed, "but…I want some romance. I want some male attention."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Well, there's always my brother."

I looked out the window, where Elliot paced back and forth for no apparent reason. I grimaced. "He's not my type. He's just…too nerdy and young looking. I want a real man, somebody tall, dark, and handsome. You know, the old cliché. But there are no men on this stupid island!" I wailed. We had been living on the island for two weeks, and while a few new people had come to live here, there were no attractive, eligible bachelors to be had.

Natalie frowned at me. "Well, at least you have more selection than me. You at least have my brother to reject." We both laughed at that, and finished our tea, chatting about what little gossip there was to be had on this tiny island.

The next day, I heard a knock on my door as I ate my breakfast. I stuffed the last bite of bread in my mouth and walked over to answer it, sure it was probably Taro, Natalie's ever helpful grandfather, visiting with some advice about the farm. He seemed to think up things while he was sleeping, and then was pounding down my door first thing the next morning, dying to lecture me on how to plow my fields or whatnot.

I yanked the door open, and what I saw nearly made me choke on the food in my mouth. Standing there, obscuring the early morning sunlight so that it glittered aura-like around him, was a tall, dark, and handsome man. He wore a cowboy hat and rancher style clothing, and his hair was long and silvery, hanging a little over one eye. He was absolutely gorgeous! I struggled to swallow the bread, and my hands reflexively flew to my hair, which was still rumpled from bed, desperately trying to smooth it. I managed to speak.

"Um, hi?" I choked out. Yeah, that was eloquent.

The man stared at me for a moment, and then spoke. "The name's Vaughn. I'm an animal trader, and I'll be providing animals for this island from now on. I just wanted to come by and introduce myself, since you'll most likely be the one buying the animals." His voice was gruff, yet sexy. Ooh, I'm so thrilled! I was squealing inside, but I managed to stick out my hand to shake his, wishing desperately that I looked a little better right now.

"I'm Chelsea. I own this farm. But I guess you knew that, or you wouldn't have come here. But you probably didn't know my name, right? Or I mean, maybe you did, because somebody told you my name when they told you about the ranch here." I giggled a little as I blathered on and on.

Vaughn just narrowed his eyes at me. I shivered a little under his cold gaze. He hadn't once smiled since he had arrived. He cleared his throat. "Right. I'll see you later." And without another word, he turned on his heels and left. I watched him go, sighing a little as I admired his manly figure. Snapping to, I got busy with the days chores.

After I harvested some turnips, watered my other plants, and did some weeding, I hightailed it to Natalie's house. She was pacing around outside. Man, she and her brother seriously need to get hobbies if they have nothing better to do than that!

I yanked her by the arm over to the side of the house, not that there was anyone who would hear or even care. "There is a man here!" I hissed excitedly.

Natalie grimaced, trying to pry my squeezing fingers off of her arm. "All right, all right, calm down, you're freaking me out! What are you talking about?" I explained to her about my visitor and she nodded. "Oh yeah, that guy. He came by and introduced himself to my grandpa this morning." She shrugged. "He's not really that cute. And he seems mean."

I widened my eyes at her. "Not cute? Not CUTE? He was soooo gorgeous!"

Natalie shrugged again. "Not really my type."

I grinned gleefully. "Good, then we won't have to be rivals. Oh, a man! A man, finally!"

Natalie rolled her eyes at me. "Chill out, Chels! It's not even like he'll be living here."

My face dropped in despair. "What?" I cried.

Natalie nodded. "He'll just be coming by on Wednesdays and Thursdays to do his business."

I pouted. "Well, that sucks. Oh well, I'll just have to see him when I see him!" I said breezily and skipped off back to my farm. Today was Monday. He must have come by special just to meet everybody. So he'd be back in two days…nice. I counted down the hours until he got there again.

Finally, it was Wednesday. I hurried through my farm chores, then set out to look for him. I felt a little like a stalker as I tried to act casual, but my eyes were scanning around desperately for him. I headed towards Mirabelle's animal shop, figuring he might be around there. I went inside, but didn't see him, so I mumbled some lame excuse and left quickly. I wandered around the grassy area for a while, then I decided to check the beach.

As I stepped onto the sparkling sand, my heart leapt. There he was! He was turned away, staring off over the water. I approached him quietly and then spoke. "Hey!" I said, trying not to sound too happy.

He jumped a little, startled, then slid his eyes over at me. "Oh, hello."

I stood next to him, rocking nervously on my heels, my heart beating a mile a minute. "It's really pretty here." I waited, but he didn't say anything, so I continued. "I really like living on this island, so close to nature. It makes me really appreciate things more than I did when I lived in the city. And I don't really mind the simple life, because I think-"

He cut me off suddenly. "What do you want?"

I was taken aback. "N-nothing…I just wanted to talk, that's all."

He grunted. "Well, go talk somewhere else. You're annoying me."

My eyes widened in horror, and I stepped away slowly. I turned on my heels and walked swiftly back to my farm. My cheeks were burning. WHAT A JERK! Why did a jerk like that have to be so gorgeous? It wasn't fair! Well, forget it. If he wanted to be like that, he wasn't worth my time. I stalked around my farm, chopping branches with my axe to relieve my frustration. I stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from my brow, and the image of his handsome face floated up in my mind. I pushed it away angrily. Whatever. I didn't have that bad of a crush anyway…


	2. A Little Birdie

Chapter 2

A Little Birdie

The next day was Thursday, and I fought the butterflies in my stomach. Part of me kind of wanted to see him again, the other part hated his guts and hoped he would stay away from the island. Jerk. I brushed the hair out of my eyes and continued plowing. I wanted to plant some more turnip seeds to replace the ones I had harvested.

I had commissioned Gannon to make a chicken coop for me. I was pretty proud of myself to be able to afford one so quickly, but the money was coming in quickly from selling wild plants and my own crops, and I felt like it was a sound investment. That morning, he had announced that the work was done.

I was surprised to see Taro walking up the path to my farm. Usually, if he came to see me, it was first thing in the morning. It was already half past eight. I chuckled to myself, thinking that maybe he was giving me a break today. As he got closer, I could tell he had something in his hands.

"Well, good morning to ya, missy! I've got a little friend that I want you to meet!" He stretched out his hands and showed me the fluffy little yellow chick he had brought me.

"Awww!" I cooed, scooping up the little bird. I petted its soft down, and it chirped brightly. "Is it a boy or a girl?" I asked.

"Can't say for sure, can't say for sure," he mused. "At any rate, you gotta give the little feller a name."

I blinked at him. "Without knowing if it's a boy or a girl?"

He laughed. "It's not all that, now. Any old name will do."

I thought for a moment. "Ummm…well, I guess I'll call it Chee." I petted the bird some more. "Thanks again, Taro." Something slowly crept into my mind. I probably already knew the answer, but I had to ask anyway. "Where did you get this bird?"

"Well, I heard from Gannon that you were having a chicken coop built, so I thought it would be a nice surprise for you. I asked that feller Vaughn yesterday to bring along a little birdie for me today."

"Oh." I tried to sound nonchalant. "Did you tell him it was a present for me?"

Taro shook his head. "Naw, it didn't come up."

I shrugged. "Well, thanks again." He departed, and I was left with this tiny little chick that I wasn't really sure how to take care of. I walked slowly towards my new chicken coop, lost in thought. I knew the chick was too young to graze outside. I went in the chicken coop, stopping to admire it for a moment, then I placed little Chee down on the ground. I thought for a moment. "What am I going to feed you?" I knew I'd have to go to Mirabelle's and buy some chicken feed. I hoped I wouldn't run into him…well, I kind of hoped I would, really.

I walked down the path towards the main area. I hurried over to Chen's, remembering that I wanted to use some of my funds to buy some more potato seeds. On a whim, I bought a chocolate bar while I was there. Then I headed over to Mirabelle's. I pushed the door open, just a little nervous, then sighed with a mix of relief and disappointment when Vaughn was nowhere in sight. I approached the counter and told Mirabelle I wanted to buy some chicken feed.

"Certainly, certainly dear." She laughed in her jolly little way. "Let me just go into the store room and get you some." She left the room and I wandered around a bit, then sat down on the only bench in the store. I unwrapped part of the chocolate and broke off a bit.

I was just popping it in my mouth when I heard the jingle jangle of the store's front door opening. I didn't have to look to know it was Vaughn. I could hear the heavy tattoo of his cowboy boots on the hardwood floor. He rounded the corner, starting slightly when he saw me. I saw just a waver of some emotion of his face, but it quickly dissipated back into that mask of stoicism.

He looked around. "Where's Mirabelle?" He grunted the question in that low, frustratingly sexy voice.

I shrugged, trying to act like my heart wasn't fluttering. "She went to get me some bird feed, but she hasn't come back yet."

He raised an eyebrow. "Bird feed, huh?" He stood, turned slightly away from me, with his arms folded over his chest. Silence ensued.

I tried to resist the urge to talk to him, reminding myself how he treated me the last time. But my natural tendency to run my mouth won the day. "Yeah, that baby chicken that Taro asked you for…he gave it to me." I waited for his reaction.

He grunted, then was silent for a while. "Take good care of it," he finally said. "Chicks are pretty fragile. Don't let it go outside until it gets bigger." I nodded, happy that I had gotten him to say more than half a sentence to me.

Time passed, but Mirabelle did not return. Vaughn started to look annoyed. He grumbled something under his breath, then began to pace the floor. I watched him. Wow, he was too perfect to be true. Too bad he was such a sullen jerk. But maybe that was part of what made him so attractive, the fact that he was slightly mysterious….

I was shaken out of my thoughts by him suddenly plunking himself down next to me on the bench. It was a large bench, so we weren't forced close together, but I was still surprised that he would even want to sit next to me. He leaned forward, stretching his hands back and forth. Then he sighed loudly, looking down at the floor, irritated.

"What do you need from Mirabelle?" I asked him.

He glanced over at me, then looked away. He hesitated before answering. "I just need to pick up my payment, then I can leave." We lapsed back into silence. I looked down at my hands and realized that I was still holding the chocolate bar. I had been so focused on watching every move that he made, I had been totally oblivious to it. I broke off another piece and started to eat it. I could feel him looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned my head, he was looking away.

"Oh, sorry, I'm being rude," I said, swallowing the bite of chocolate. I held out what was left to him. "Want some?"

He furrowed his brows, looking at the chocolate, and then at me. Geez, had no one ever shared anything with this guy before? He was acting like I was trying to give him cooties. It kind of annoyed me, that I was offering him something, and he was making a disgusted face at me. Suddenly, the look faded away, and there was almost a hint of a smile on his lips. He chuckled softly. "No, thank you."

I brought my hand back in. "What, you don't like chocolate?"

He shook his head. "No, I do. I just…don't want any right now."

"Oh." I said. We sat in silence a little while longer. Just then, Mirabelle reappeared from the store room, her cheeks flushed. She wiped her hands on her apron. "I am so sorry," she said. "One of the feed bags on a top shelf got torn somehow, and it spilled grain all over me. I was trying to clean it up the best I could. Here you go," she spoke to me, holding out a large paper sack. "That's enough bird feed to get you started."

I rose, approaching her. "Thanks. How much…?"

She waved me away. "No charge, dear. I'm sorry for the wait."

I thanked her again, then turned to go. My hand on the knob, I turned back to look at Vaughn, who was finally collecting his payment. He glanced at me, then lifted his hand to the brim of his hat, and tilted it ever so slightly, that wisp of a smile playing on his lips once more. I bit my lip in excitement, then smiled back. I left the store much happier than when I entered.


	3. Growing

Chapter 3

Growing

That summer, I commissioned Gannon to build two bridges, one going west from the main area of town and one going further east from the east side of town to a meadow. I had balked a little initially at having to be the one to put up the capital for such things. But I realized that in a typical town, that kind of thing would be paid for by the government, which we didn't have, so it fell on the main money maker of the island - me. But it wasn't like I was rich or anything! I finally caved and forked over my hard earned money and lumber to make the improvements.

It seemed like overnight, the island flourished because of that. In quick succession, new people and new businesses flocked to the island. First, in the main area of town, a small, homey inn popped up. On the east side of town, a diner, café, and hotel appeared. Because of the bridge going to the meadow, we were now able to hold festivals. On the west side of town, there was a forest, where I discovered a witch living. There was also a "Harvest Goddess" living in the pond there. It all seemed a little unreal to me, but it was real enough. A church in her honor was quickly built on the banks of the pond. Going north from the forest, there was a mountain area, with a mining cave that I had not yet had the time to explore.

While all this was going on, I continued to work from sunup to well past sundown every day. Tending to my one chicken (which took very little time), tending to my crops, and gathering materials and wild plants. And of course, stalking Vaughn on Wednesdays and Thursdays. That had become my favorite little hobby. I had gotten to know where he liked to hang out - usually at or around Mirabelle's or on the beach. So I'd just "happen" to be there as well, buying more chicken feed (when I had way more than enough for one chicken, but hey, the stuff was cheap) or chopping wood somewhere when he was nearby. I actually nearly chopped off my foot one time when I was watching him instead of looking where my axe was landing. I vowed from then on to only watch him when I wasn't wielding a deadly weapon.

Progress was going very slow with him. He wasn't talkative, even though I tried to approach him in different ways, with different subjects. So I gave up trying to have conversations with him, and just contented myself with the one or two sentences he would grunt at me. I finally figured out that he didn't really like a talkative girl, so I became quieter myself, just being happy to get to see him twice a week.

When the new businesses started to spring up, I started increasingly having trouble finding him. There were so many places to check, that I often spent nearly the entire day running around town, gathering wild plants as I went so that I didn't just look like a nutcase barreling all over town for no reason at all. So, I made sure to water my plants extra on Tuesdays and Fridays to make up for the inattention they might get when Vaughn was in town.

On one such Wednesday, I was exhausted after searching nearly everywhere in town. It was evening, and I finally ended up on the east side of town. I stood in front of the diner, and my growling stomach urged me to go inside for the first time. I sighed, giving up my search for Vaughn. I must have missed him somewhere, and I wasn't about to make that whole circuit again. I was just too tired.

So imagine my surprise when lo and behold, inside the diner, there sat the object of my affections. My relief and joy must have been apparent on my face, because he looked alarmed, actually squirming a little under my gaze. I calmed myself down and took a seat at a table near his, flashing him a quick smile as I sat. He just tilted his hat at me slightly, no expression on his face. The waitress approached his table and took his order. He murmured in a low tone, and I couldn't tell what it was that he ordered. The waitress then approached my table. "Oh, I'll have curry rice," I said after glancing quickly over the menu.

She left to get both of our meals, and I tried not to outright stare at him. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he adjusted the bandanna around his neck, and wiped his hands on his black jeans. He was so incredibly handsome. He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, and I could tell by his scowl that he could tell I was watching him. I quickly looked away, and just then the waitress returned. I resumed looking at him while his attention was distracted. "Here's your porridge," she said, placing a bowl in front of him. I stifled a laugh. Porridge? Seriously? What was he, Goldilocks? I saw him cast a scowl my way as I was served my curry rice. After a moment, he spoke up.

"Is something funny?" he asked.

I choked back another laugh. "N-no…it's just, well, porridge? Really? You like porridge?"

He smirked. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, I didn't even know it was a real food anymore. I've only read about it in fairy tales and nursery rhymes." I explained.

He snorted and began eating without another word. I watched him for a minute more, until he scowled at me one more time. "What's your problem?" he growled at me.

I squeaked and looked down at my plate. "N-n-nothing! Sorry!" I began eating my food quickly, vowing not too look at him for the rest of the meal. I heard him slide his chair back, stand up, and slap some money on the table, then I heard the clacking of his boots on the floor as he walked past me and out of the diner.

I sighed to myself, dropping my fork. Well, I really blew that…

The next day, even though it was Thursday and I would normally be stalking him, I decided to give it a pass. I could tell he was getting sick of me. Maybe my stalking wasn't as cute as I thought it was.

After I did my farm chores, I decided to go into town to see Natalie. I was surprised to find her family's house locked tight. I looked around town, and noticed that there was no one around at all. What was going on? Then I remembered her mother coming by the day before to tell me that there would be a Summer Crop Festival in the meadow today, and the theme was tomatoes. I had brushed the information aside, eager to get my chores done and find Vaughn. So there was a festival today. I hurried back home and opened the shipping bin, removing the best tomato specimen I could see, and hurried off towards the meadow.

When I crossed the bridge, I saw Natalie and Elliot right away. They waved at me and I joined them. Elliot told me where to go to enter my tomato, and I quickly located his mother at the judging table. She smiled broadly, accepting my entry and telling me it would be a while yet before the judging was complete. I melted back into the crowd, speaking to each and every townsperson I could. Everyone in town was there. My eyes caught a glimpse of a cowboy hat in the crowd, and I realized that EVERYONE was there. Even Mr. Antisocial himself. Well, I wasn't going to bother him today. Even though my mind was screaming at me, "Just a little peek! Just get one look at that sexy face!", I pushed those thoughts away and steered myself in a different direction, away from him. I went back to Natalie.

She was sipping a drink. "Hey, your boyfriend's over there." She pointed in the direction I'd come from.

I shrugged. "Yeah right, I wish. He hates my guts." I sighed loudly. "This sucks. Why is he so mean? He shouldn't be able to be so cute if he's so mean."

I heard her gasp. Her cheeks got pink. "Speaking of cute, who is THAT guy?"

I turned, following her gaze. All I saw was Gannon and some kid in a ridiculous purple suit and top hat. I looked back at her. "Who? I don't see any guys."

She tried to frown at me, but her face was fixed in delight and she couldn't. "The blonde guy!" I looked again. Sure enough, the kid in purple had blonde hair. I looked back at her. "Seriously? That's kid's like twelve, Natalie. Robbing the cradle much?"

She elbowed me. "Nuh uh. He's probably our age." I stared at her. "Really!" she squealed. "He looks our age!"

"Natalie, hon, you need to borrow your brother's glasses. That "hot guy" is still in diapers."

She stomped her foot. "Whatever, Miss 'I like mean cowboys.'" I huffed a little at that as she approached the kid. I followed her. Natalie was not shy by any means, so she launched right into introductions.

"Hi, I'm Natalie, and this is my best friend Chelsea. Are you just visiting here or are you coming to live?"

The kid, who was actually holding a spoon for no reason whatsoever, licked his lips. "I'm Pierre. Gannon's building me a house starting tomorrow."

Natalie brightened up. "Wonderful! Welcome to the island! It's great to get another teenager here."

Pierre frowned. "Oh, I'm not a teenager." I smirked as Natalie's face dropped. Yep, he was like eleven or twelve after all. He spoke up again. "I'm twenty."

My jaw dropped and Natalie beamed. "Oh, then you're one year older than us!" she said.

I sputtered. "But, but, but….you look like a little kid!"

Natalie scowled at me. "Hush, Chelsea! That's rude."

Pierre laughed heartily. "That's all right. I'm used to people thinking I'm younger. But it's true, I turned twenty this year."

Natalie slipped her arm in his. "Let me take you around and introduce you to some people, Pierre. See you later, Chelsea," she called over her shoulder. I balled up my fists. The nerve! Abandoning me for that silly looking kid! Oh well, I sighed.

My attention turned to the judging table, as Felicia rang a bell to get everyone's attention. "Attention everyone! The judging is complete!" she called out in her sweet, melodious voice. The crowd gathered closer, and I struggled to get a spot near the front so I could see if I won or not. I was pushed and shoved around a little by people. I was almost knocked off balance, and fell heavily into someone, who grunted. I recognized that grunt.

I looked up into Vaughn's face, rubbing my shoulder that I had hit on him. He stared at me for a moment. "You okay?"

I blushed furiously and nodded. "Somebody…pushed me into you." He just shrugged and fixed his eyes on the judging table. Felicia was announcing the winners, and I came in at the bottom of the heap. I clacked my tongue in disappointment.

Vaughn looked over at me. "Don't be disappointed." I perked up, waiting to hear words of encouragement from him. "It just means that everyone else grew better vegetables. It's as simple as that." He pulled his hat low over his eyes and walked away.

I glared at his retreating figure. Taro walked up to me. "Don't mind him. He's just not good with people." He reached up, patting me on the shoulder. "It's only your first year growing crops. No one expected you to win. It will take a while to get the expertise necessary to grow award winning crops. It's admirable that you even entered."

I gave him a weak little smile, then looked off at Vaughn, who was standing several yards away, staring off into the distance. He must have felt me looking at him, because he slowly turned his head towards me. I tilted by chin up defiantly at him, and my heart fluttered when I caught a glimpse of a smile. Progress was slow, but I was getting somewhere.


	4. Fishing For Compliments

Chapter 4

Fishing for Compliments

Soon it was fall, and my life became a whirlwind of weeding, tilling, planting, and watering once again at the start of the season. I planted a long row of eggplant, and several patches of carrots. Once the initial busyness of that died down, I had a little more free time on my hands. Taro had given me an old fishing rod, and I soon found that I enjoyed fishing.

It was also a valuable aid in pursuing Vaughn. Instead of running around town like a chicken with my head cut off looking for him, I could camp out at one of his normal hangout places and fish, and wait for him to come to me. That way, it didn't look like I was stalking him. Well, not as obviously anyway. Natalie still said I was acting pretty desperate, and I told her to go away and make out with her kindergarten boyfriend. She got mad at me, but finally laughed at it.

It was an unusually warm Wednesday, and I dipped my toes into the salty water as I fished off the pier. The afternoon sun beat down steadily on me, and I adjusted the bandanna on my head with one hand. I had already caught a bucket of fish, and I was pretty happy. Vaughn had yet to show up at the beach today, but I could wait.

Suddenly, a ferry boat appeared on the horizon. Within a few minutes, it had pulled up to the dock. I slipped my socks and shoes back on, and ran down the pier to meet it.

A young man who couldn't be much older than me stepped off. He had dark wavy hair, tanned skin, and a purple bandanna. He carried a small suitcase, and a fishing pole. He grinned at me, and I smiled back at him. "Welcome to Sunny Island!" I said, waving hello.

"Thanks. The name's Denny. I heard there was good fishing to be had on this island, so I've come to live here. I'll be staying in that house there." He gestured to the dilapidated shack on the shore. He must have seen the look on my face, because he chuckled heartily. "Oh, I know it looks pretty sad right now. I've already gotten in touch with Gannon, the carpenter, and he'll be coming down soon to help me fix it up." I nodded, and he set down his suitcase. "Well, until then, how about we do a little fishing?" he said, motioning at my rod.

We sat down on the wooden planks together, and cast our lines out. He told me about the last place he had lived, and I told him what kinds of fish I had been catching lately. I was grateful for the tips on fishing that he shared with me. I was so busy talking and laughing with Denny, that I didn't even notice Vaughn's arrival. It was only when I stood up to place my newest catch in the bucket that I saw him pacing the sand. I met eyes with him across the distance, and I swore I could detect a little glimmer of annoyance. I was thrilled inside. Could he be a little jealous? Jealous to see me laughing and talking with a man that wasn't antisocial? I sat back down, making sure to laugh a little extra loud at the next thing Denny said.

It started to gnaw at me though. I didn't want to give him the wrong impression. I mean, I wanted him to see that I was desirable enough that other men would talk to me, but I didn't want to him to think that I was more interested in this new guy. So I turned my head, and wiggled my fingers at him in a silent hello. He looked perplexed for a moment, then lifted one open fingered gloved hand and wiggled his fingers back just slightly. He turned away quickly, but I could see that it made him smile. I bit my lip and turned back to the sea, trying to focus on my fishing.

But I kept thinking about him, wondering if he was still there, and after a few minutes I glanced over my shoulder again. He was still there, watching me, but he turned away and looked in the other direction when I looked at him. He pulled his hat lower down on his head, and crossed his arms over his chest. I returned my focus to the fishing pole, and this time I waited a little longer to look back at him. When I did, he was still standing with his arms crossed over his chest, acting like he was looking in another direction, but I could just see his eyes under the shade of his hat, and they were looking at me. I just smiled, and turned back around .

Denny laughed. "Is that guy your boyfriend?"

I blushed and shook my head. "No, just a guy that I like."

"Well, it looks like he likes you too," he chuckled, then we both squealed as he had a huge pull on his line. I got the net ready, and as he reeled in the large fish, I scooped it up. It thrashed in the net, splashing water on both of us. We laughed, and just then Gannon showed up to meet with Denny and work on his house. I said goodbye and picked up my bucket, then scanned the shore for Vaughn. He was nowhere to be seen. I sighed, lugging the bucket full of fish back home.

The next day, I was a little sick of fishing, so I set out for the forest to forage. I stumbled across Natalie and her new love interest, the sickeningly young looking Pierre, strolling through the woods, chatting about wild mushroom recipes. I just smirked and continued to hunt for wild plants, gathering many colored grasses, blue flowers, and shiitake mushrooms.

Once my pack was full, I headed for the main area of town. As I reached the path that led home, I hesitated. I was a little hungry, so I figured I'd go to the café first. I continued heading east. As I crossed the bridge, I spotted Vaughn, and my heart fluttered a little. I steadied my nerves, reminding myself to not act like a stupid little girl. I just walked up to him with a confident smile on my face.

As I got closer, I could tell something was wrong. He looked annoyed and distracted. "Where is it…?" he grumbled, pacing back and forth.

Just then, Denny came around the corner. "Hey, cowboy man! Why the long face?" he called out in his cheerful way.

Vaughn looked even more annoyed. "It's none of your business."

Denny grimaced. "Sorry, man. My bad." He quietly retreated.

The words "What's with the attitude?" hovered on my lips, but I thought better of it. "Did you lose something? Can I help you look for it?" I asked.

"I don't need any help," he growled. I cringed at his harsh tone, and he must have noticed because his face softened. "I…ah…I lost a box of my work gear," he said in a not so gruff voice.

"Then I'll help you find it," I offered, and before he could refuse, I started searching as well. Pretty soon, I found it tucked away behind a nearby boulder. I picked it up and carried it to him.

He looked surprised and grateful. "Oh…thank you so much." He caught himself, and his voice became more like usual. "Well, I could have found it myself." I frowned at him, and he widened his eyes a little. "But, thanks again," he said a little sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

"You're welcome," I said, and then I continued on to the café. I was very surprised to discover it was positively crowded outside. Apparently, there was going to be a cow festival in town tomorrow, and these were tourists and ranchers from other cities arriving early for the event. I sat at the only unoccupied table in the place, a two seater booth. The waitress came to take my order, and on a whim, I ordered porridge, remembering seeing Vaughn eat it the last time I was in here. It must hold some appeal if he liked it, so it was worth a try. The waitress left, and I sipped at my water, watching the buzzing crowd interacting with one another.

The café door opened, and Vaughn stepped through the door. His eyes quickly scanned the bustling café, and he scowled, starting to leave. I caught his eye and gave a little wave, gesturing to the unoccupied seat across from me. He hesitated for a moment, then walked forward. He slid into the booth, looking down at his hands silently. I looked at them too. I liked his black fingerless gloves. We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then the waitress arrived, placing the bowl of porridge in front of me. Vaughn looked up at the waitress. "I'll have what she's having." She left to fill his order.

Vaughn then looked at me, raising his eyebrows and smirking. "So… I thought only characters in fairy tales eat that."

I pushed the spoon around in the bowl. "Maybe I like fairy tales," I mumbled.

He just smirked some more and leaned back in the booth, the vinyl creaking. He watched me eat the porridge, and I blushed, self conscious. "Don't…don't stare at me while I'm eating," I said, embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm just returning the favor," he said, and I started to protest, realizing he was jabbing at me staring at him the last time, but the waitress arrived just then with his bowl, so I said nothing. I just huffed and continued to eat.

We were silent for a while. He suddenly spoke. "So, do you like it?"

I gave him a little smile. "Yeah…it's sort of bland, but in a good way, if that makes any sense."

He nodded. "I know what you mean." He quickly finished his food, placed some money on the table, and stood to go. "See you at the cow festival tomorrow," he said without looking at me, then departed.

I just nodded and watched him go, blushing furiously. Oh, I was definitely going to be there.


	5. Animals

Chapter 5

Animal

The next day was the cow festival. Even though I didn't have a cow to enter, I was raring up to go, because Vaughn had said he'd see me there. As I crossed the bridge to the meadow, I saw him standing next to one of the cows. I tried to act casual as I sauntered up to the cow, patting her on the rump. She gave a low moo, and Vaughn tipped his hat at me to say hello. I just smiled at him.

I tried to think of something clever to say. "You like cows, huh?" Oh, so clever!

He gave a little nod. "Well, I do work with animals all day, so it helps to like them." He gave a half smile. "Also, I have to admit I have a soft spot for milk."

"Really?" I asked, intrigued. I suddenly started planning out building a barn and raising a cow. I imagined myself presenting him with some fresh milk, and him giving me a big smile in return. I scolded myself for going so far overboard when it came to him. Stalking him around town, making major renovation plans just to curry favor with him…but, I realized, I'd do whatever it takes to make him smile.

Natalie walked up with Pierre. I rolled my eyes. Man, they looked so ridiculous. She looked like she was his babysitter or something. But if she was happy…I smiled at them. Pierre was still holding that stupid spoon, and he licked his lips at me. "Did you bring what I asked for?"

I nodded, and reached into my bag. I handed him several carrots, freshly harvested. Pierre accepted them and then beamed at Natalie. "Tonight, I'll show you how to make carrot au gratin!" Natalie squealed happily and clapped her hands.

I saw Vaughn making a face out of the corner of my eye. "What?" I asked. "You don't like carrots?"

He grimaced. "I hate carrots. More than anything in the world."

"Right, I'll remember that. Milk: good. Carrots: bad." I gestured like I was checking off a list. Natalie laughed, and Vaughn just gave a smirk and turned away from us.

The next week passed slowly. I found myself thinking more and more about Vaughn. Every little half smile and friendly exchange I could get out of him just fueled my desire even more. I knew he wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but I could tell that he was softening up, and that encouraged me to keep trying.

On Wednesday morning, I woke up and headed towards the chicken coop to tend to Chee. I went inside, but to my great surprise, she wasn't there. Suddenly it hit me - I had let her out to graze yesterday. But I had never put her back in the coop. Waves of horror rushed over me as I hurried back outside and frantically searched for her. My worst fears were realized when I found several bloody feathers behind the coop. I began crying as I realized what happened. A wild dog must have attacked her. There was a chance she was alive somewhere, but there was a much greater chance that the dog had eaten her. I had to sit down on the dirt and just cry for several minutes, my heart aching with sadness.

I finally recovered enough to do my other farm chores, then I headed out into town. I passed Vaughn on the path, and must have seen my tear stained face and pained expression, because he gave me a strange look. "What's wrong with you?"

I sighed deeply. "I left my chicken out overnight, and I think a wild dog killed her." I sniffled a little, hoping poor Chee didn't suffer too badly. Vaughn just stared at me, and just then Taro walked up. He also asked me what was wrong, and I explained to him. Vaughn walked off during this, but I was too busy crying and talking to Taro that I barely noticed him go. I didn't see him for the rest of the day.

That night, I tossed and turned, feeling guilty about Chee. I vowed to be more careful with my next chicken. My next chicken…I would go to Mirabelle's tomorrow and get another chicken. It couldn't replace Chee in my heart as my first chicken, but I promised myself that nothing like this would ever happen again.

The next day was Thursday, and I headed for the animal shop. I approached the counter. "How can I help you, dearie?" Mirabelle asked, but she was acting strangely.

I sighed. "I want to buy a chicken."

Mirabelle fidgeted nervously. "Oh dear…I don't know how to say this…but Vaughn told me not to sell any animals to you."

I gaped at her. "What?!"

She gave me a sad, apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry. But he threatened to no longer do business with us if we disobeyed."

I just backed away from the counter, then spun on my heels and stormed out the door. I was fuming. How dare he? My fingers tingled with outrage. I quickly looked at the position of the sun in the sky and headed for the beach, knowing from weeks of stalking him where he would be right now.

My feet crunched angrily into the sand as I strode onto the beach to confront him. He heard me approaching and turned around slowly. We scowled at each other. "You told Mirabelle not to sell me any animals? Why?" I spat the question out at him.

He folded his arms across his chest. "I think you're unfit to take care of animals."

My face clouded over. "Because…because of Chee?" I cried. "That's not fair, Vaughn. She was killed by a wild dog!"

His voice rose in anger. "That's right, she was killed by a wild dog! Because you left her out overnight!" I felt my face burning, and tears sprung to my eyes. He continued, his voice rising more. "So, no, I don't want to let you have another animal. You'll just neglect it, and let it die too! If you had spent as much time caring for her as you do following me around, she'd still be alive!"

The indignation boiled up inside of me, and I couldn't control myself. I raised my hand and slapped him across the face. His eyes widened, and he stared at me. My hand stung from the contact with his face, and his cheek became red. Tears rolled down my face. "You are such a hateful person. I don't know why I ever thought I liked you." The words came out in a broken sob.

Suddenly, he lunged at me. Terror filled my heart as I braced myself for his attack. But instead, he gathered me up in his arms. His lips caught mine in a rough kiss. My eyes were wide open in shock, but his were closed tightly, some overwhelming emotion all over his face. I relaxed my body into his arms, letting my eyes close as well. His lips pressed into mine hungrily, insistently, and I found myself returning the kiss.

He pulled away quickly, releasing me. He fidgeted with the brim of his hat, looking away. My fingers flew to my lips, unbelieving of what had just happened. I stared at him in a daze, and suddenly he turned and walked away. I watched him go, as a light breeze wafted through my hair.


	6. I'm Sorry

Chapter 6

I'm Sorry

The next week was excruciating. I played the scene on the beach over and over in my head, and I was still lost. What did it mean? After he had said all those ugly things to me, then he kisses me? Does he like me or not? I pondered these things one morning, lying back in my bed.

Unfortunately, I should have been listening to my best friend Natalie instead of thinking about my love troubles. She leaned forward in the chair that she had pulled up beside my bed and narrowed her eyes at me. "Hello? Earth to Chelsea! I asked you a question!"

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled. "What was it?"

She sighed loudly. "Geez, you're thinking about your moody cowboy again, aren't you? I told you, don't stress about it. He won't be back on the island for four days, so there's no way for you to get any answers until then. So stop obsessing about it. I know, I know, obsessing about him is what you do best, but you gotta chill out."

I sat up, hugging my knees. "I know…I'm sorry. What were you asking me?"

She smiled slowly, and lowered her voice. "I said, what do you think about me making some chocolate covered strawberries and taking them over to Pierre tonight? Is that too forward?"

I buried my face in my knees. "No, I think it sounds gross," came my muffled reply. "I don't want to think about you doing sexy times with that toddler."

She picked up my pillow and whomped me on the head with it. "Ooooh, you! I don't judge your choice of man, so don't judge mine!"

I picked up the other pillow on my bed and hit her with it. "Liar! You always judge my choice of man! 'Moody cowboy' this and 'moody cowboy' that!" She smacked me with the pillow again, and I quickly brought mine down on the top of her head. We traded insults about our boyfriends back and forth, and before long, it had dissolved into a mess of tears and giggles.

"Hah….hah…" Natalie wheezed, wiping her eyes. "You said…'He'll probably try to put his spoon in your…'" She broke down in a fit of giggles.

I gasped for breath. "And you said, 'He probably makes animal noises in bed!'" I rolled with laughter.

We quickly agreed that our choices of men were equally ridiculous, but as long as we were fine with it, that was all that mattered.

For the next four days as I waited for Vaughn to return to the island, Natalie came looking for me at various points in the day to update me on the latest progress of her seducing of Pierre. I really, really did not want to know about it, but I had to be a good friend to her, so I nodded and oohed and aahed like I was supposed to. And was she ever full of updates. She'd come find me while I was weeding plants, or fishing, or wherever I was. Sometimes she knocked on my door first thing in the morning or last thing at night just to tell me some little detail. I was happy for her, but still couldn't shake the feeling of repulsion, thinking about Pierre's underage looking self.

So Wednesday morning, as I heard a pounding on my door while I was in the shower, I was sure that it was Natalie. I was almost done anyway, so I shut off the water, dried off my head the best that I could, and wrapped myself in a towel. The pounding started up again. "I'm coming! Geez, Natalie, hold your horses!" I yelled, making my way towards the door. I yanked it open with one hand, holding onto my towel with the other. Then I squeaked.

For there was Vaughn, holding a small white box and looking very surprised. His eyes flew down to my almost not big enough to cover everything towel, and I squeaked again. "Oh, I thought you were Natalie! Oh, um…hold on just a minute!" I shut the door in his face, and quickly hurried over to my dresser and pulled on some clothes. I glanced in the mirror and ran a brush through my wet hair, then returned to the door. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

But he was gone. I started to step out and see if he was somewhere nearby, but my toe nudged something. I looked down and there was the white box that he had been holding. I stooped down and picked it up in wonder. It had holes poked in it, and scrawled on it in pencil was, "I'm sorry." I slowly opened it, and gasped when I saw the fluffy baby chick inside. It looked up at me and peeped. I smiled, scooping it up and holding it to my heart. I kissed it on the top of the head, then made my way to the chicken coop and placed it inside, doling out some chicken feed as well. "I'm going to call you Chichi," I whispered to it, then went out to the fields to water my eggplants.

I returned to the house and washed up, then did my hair. I looked at the time and knew he would still be on the beach. I made my way there nervously. When I got there, my heart skipped a beat when I saw him standing on the shoreline, gazing out over the horizon, his back to me. Unfortunately, Denny skipped up at the same time. "Hey, Chelsea, wanna do some fishing?" I just opened my mouth, but nothing came out, and I looked from him to Vaughn, a stricken look on my face. Vaughn didn't turn around, and Denny got the message. He winked at me and whispered, "Maybe another time," then loudly called out to Charlie. "Come on, little buddy! I'm going to teach you how to fish in a stream!"

"All right!" Charlie cheered, running after Denny excitedly. They left the beach, and I thanked Denny silently for being so considerate.

I walked up beside Vaughn, standing next to him. "Thank you for the chicken," I said quietly.

He cleared his throat, still looking out over the sea. "You're welcome."

We were silent for a few moments. Then he sighed and sat down on the sand, and I followed suit. He poked his fingers into the sand, looking down. "I'm sorry for all those things I said," he whispered. I just shook my head and made a "mmm" sound. He continued. "It's just that I really care about animals, and I get worked up pretty easy when I think they are being mistreated." I stirred a little, and he quickly said, "But I was wrong in your case. I jumped to conclusions. And for that, I'm sorry."

I played with a stray strand of my hair. "And I'm sorry for slapping you." My cheeks got pink when I thought about what happened after the slap.

He cleared his throat again. "No, I deserved that." He chuckled a little. I scooted a little closer to him, and laid my head on his shoulder. I heard him gasp lightly, but then he gave a little "Hmmph," and worked his arm behind me, wrapping it around my back. I trembled happily. "Are you cold?" he whispered.

"N-no…" I managed to say. Nonetheless, I still moved in a little closer. We sat quietly for a while, and I had never felt so happy and content in my entire life.


	7. Smiles

Chapter 7

Smiles

That evening, we went to the diner together. He seemed a little nervous to be walking with me, so I didn't even attempt to hold his hand or anything like that. To other people, we just looked like two people who happened to be walking in the same direction.

We went into the diner and sat at the little booth we had the last time. He seemed deep in thought, so I asked him if something was bothering him.

Vaughn furrowed his brow. "Well, kind of. Mirabelle told me that I scare off customers. She said that the reason people don't want to talk to me is because I look mean." He folded his arms. "Well, do I?"

I stifled a laugh. "Yeah, a little. Okay…a LOT."

He threw up his hands, scowling. "I don't get it! What about me is mean looking?"

I snickered again. "Um, exactly what you're doing now?"

He folded his arms again. "Well, I don't how to look 'nice.' This is just the way I am."

"Well, you could try smiling," I said, tilting my head at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Smiling? Why?"

"Well, I'd like to see you smile. Really smile. I've seen little half-smiles, but I want to see your real smile." I said, playing with my glass of water.

He widened his eyes, and I could swear I saw a little blush come over his face. "Really?" He cleared his throat. "O-Okay…I'll try." He looked me in the eyes, the corners of his lips barely curling. "How's this?"

I laughed. "No, not even close. Try again."

He licked his lips, frowning, and then made another attempt. This time, it was the half-smile I was used to seeing. I clapped my hands. "I like that, but it could be even bigger." He took a deep breath, and I saw his teeth as he grinned broadly. It was on his face for just a split second before it fell once again into a frown, but the surprise of seeing it knocked the breath out of me. "W-what was that?" I gasped.

"That was a big smile. I hope you can remember it, because I'm not doing that again," he grunted, pulling his hat down over his eyes.

I sighed, musing this. "Maybe smiling's just not your thing. But I can tell you one thing. If you truly want to appear nicer to people, here's one thing NOT to do." I narrowed my eyes and pointed my finger in his face. "Don't talk to me! You're annoying!" His eyes widened in horror. I grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, that's the exact face I made when you did it to me."

He blushed and looked away. "I'm sorry…I didn't realize that I was so rude." He was silent for a few minutes, then spoke again. "It's just that I say what's on my mind."

I reached across the table and laid a hand on his arm. "I know you do. But sometimes, you have to take what's on your mind and imagine someone else saying it to you. If it would make you feel bad, you shouldn't say it to someone else."

"Right," he said gruffly. Our food arrived, and we ate in comfortable silence.

After that, we left and he walked me home. It was dark outside, and all that could be heard was the chirping of crickets. I bumped my shoulder playfully into his arm as we walked, and I saw that little half smile creep onto his lips. So I tentatively reached for his hand. To my surprise, he didn't yank it away, but let me interlace my fingers with his. I felt myself blush, and my heart beat very rapidly. We were holding hands. Walking in public and holding hands. Oh my goodness, does this mean he's really my boyfriend? My mind worked furiously. I could feel the smooth leather of his fingerless gloves against the palm of my hand, and I sighed happily.

We reached my farmhouse. My heart was absolutely pounding out of my chest at this point. I let go of his hand, and fidgeted a little. "Well, good night…" I said hesitantly, looking down at the ground. I was caught by surprise as I felt his hand under my chin, tilting it up. He leaned forward, his other hand gripping my shoulder lightly. Our lips met, and I could feel my whole face get very hot. I sighed, letting my eyes close, and we pressed our lips back and forth.

After a while, he pulled back, and I fluttered my eyes open. He gave me that little half smile, and chuckled softly. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sure you know where to find me."

I blushed, realizing he was referring to my weeks of stalking him, but just nodded. He turned and left my farm, and I watched him go wistfully.

The next day, I worked industriously on my farm, feeding my new chicken and watering the eggplants. After doing all that, I returned to the farmhouse and took a shower, wanting to look the best I could for when I saw Vaughn. I dried off and changed into clean clothes, and then set out towards town.

It was afternoon, so I knew he would be wandering around in the forest. I headed that way. The forest felt cool, shaded from the hot sun. My eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, and I walked to the area I usually saw him in. He was there, and I squealed a little inside when I spotted him.

He heard the crunching leaves under my feet, and turned to greet me, tilting his hat hello at me. I smiled back, and we walked together through the woods. After a little while, his hand found mine, and we were once again holding hands. I was thrilled that he took my hand this time - proof that it wasn't just me that wanted this.

I stopped at an old rotting log. "Ooh, wait just a minute," I said, letting go of his hand. "I bet that…" I trailed off as I peered behind the log. "Uh huh." I emerged holding some shiitake mushrooms. I grinned at Vaughn. "They like to grow where it's dark and damp."

He nodded. "I like mushrooms," he said quietly.

I smiled. "Really? Well, umm…." I hesitated for a moment, then got up my courage and blurted out what I had to say. "Do you want to have dinner at my house tonight?" My hands trembled nervously as I put the mushrooms in my pack, looking away from him. "I could make something with these mushrooms in it." I finally turned my head to look at him.

"All right," he grunted, and I smiled gleefully.

I brushed the dirt off my hands. "Okay, I have to go get ready. Come by my house at, say, 8 o clock?" He nodded, and I skipped off for home.

I furiously cleaned my house, sweeping and dusting and straightening up. I usually kept it pretty neat, but I wanted it to be really nice if he was going to come in. I washed the shiitake in the sink, thinking hard about what I could make. Oh yeah, I realized. The guy at the diner gave me a shiitake recipe when I gave him some of the ones I had found one day. It was for baked mushroom. I followed the directions, keeping an eye on the clock. I had just put it in the oven when I heard a knock at the door. I hurriedly ran to the mirror, removing my bandanna and smoothing my hair the best I could. Then I ran for the door.

Vaughn was there, holding some blue magic flowers. My heart melted a little when I saw that. He must have seen the sappy look on my face, because he cleared his throat loudly, thrusting them unceremoniously into my hands. "I just found them in the forest. No big deal."

I smiled happily to myself as I put them in a glass of water. I gestured for him to sit down at the table, and I went back to the kitchen area. It was a very open floor plan, so we were still in the same room. Heck, my bed was in the same room. My bed…my mind flooded with very inappropriate thoughts, like the image of him pushing me down on it. I bit my lip to keep from squealing, and took a deep breath, trying to focus on what I was cooking.

Soon it was done, and I had managed not to burn it. Vaughn complimented it by grunting, "Not bad."

After we were finished eating, I quickly cleaned up the plates and other dishes. He stood from the table and paced around a bit, finally coming to rest on the couch. When I finished cleaning, I nervously joined him on the couch. Oh my, I realized. We are all alone in here. My heart skipped a beat as he reached up and removed his hat, setting it on the coffee table. I had never seen him without his hat before. His hair was so sexy looking. The ends tapered off around his jaw line and neck.

He moved a little closer to me on the couch, and my heart started pounding. I licked my lips nervously, looking away. He brought his fingertips to my face and turned it to meet his, kissing me softly. His fingers slid over my hair, making me shiver with delight. I reached up to touch his, and I was surprised at how soft and silky it felt.

I felt his lips part, and I shook with nerves as he urged mine to part with his tongue. I complied, and he kissed me deeply. His hands stroked my back, and I felt myself melting into the couch. I wasn't going to be able to resist him, I knew that. I sighed into his mouth, enjoying the experience.

Suddenly, the clock above the fireplace chimed 9. His attention was drawn to it, and he broke away from the kiss. He cursed under his breath, and looked at me, frowning. "The ferry back to the mainland is leaving early today. I have to go now or I'll miss it."

"Oh…" I mumbled, looking down in my lap, picking at a stray thread on my pants. He pressed his lips to mine one last time. "I'll see you next week," he said, and then hurried out the door.

I was left sitting on the couch, my face still flushed. It was going to be a long week.


	8. The Hat

Chapter 8

The Hat

When I finally regained my senses, I noticed that Vaughn had left his hat on the table. I picked it up and ran desperately for the beach, but when I got there I could just see the ferry boat as a speck on the horizon. I sighed in defeat and returned home, carefully placing the hat back on the table.

All week long, as I looked at the hat, I was reminded of him. The coming Wednesday was the crop festival, and I had already been informed that the theme was eggplants. That was great, because I had been carefully tending to my eggplants all season. I knew that I would actually have a shot at winning. I was very relieved that the theme wasn't the other fall crop I had been growing, carrots, because Vaughn probably would stay away if that were the case.

Every night before I went to sleep, I picked up his hat and looked at it for a little while. I missed seeing his face, and I couldn't wait for Wednesday to come.

It was finally Wednesday morning, and I carefully looked over my eggplant harvest. I chose one that was unblemished, firm and shiny, then set out for the meadow. My eyes scanned the crowd for Vaughn, but I didn't see him anywhere. I went ahead and approached the judging table, entering my eggplant in the contest. I turned back around, and Vaughn was walking towards me. I realized why I couldn't find him in the crowd before; I had been looking for his hat, which was laying on the table at my house!

When he reached me, I patted my own head and looked at him questioningly. "Lose something?" He just rolled his eyes, then his fingers flew in reflex to try to mess with the brim of his hat, which of course wasn't there. He tucked a piece of hair behind his ear instead. "It's at my house," I whispered. "I didn't want to bring it with me, because…well, you know, it's a small island, and what would they think if I came walking in holding your hat?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you care what they think?"

I blushed. "No, I mean, I don't care who knows that we're…" I paused before saying "boyfriend and girlfriend," because he himself had never called us that. I decided to leave it unspoken. "I just wasn't sure if YOU were comfortable with everyone knowing."

He shrugged, looking up at the sky. "I don't care what anyone thinks of me. I do what I want." And with that, he took my hand, twining his fingers with mine. I trembled with excitement, and tried my very best to keep from grinning like an idiot. I failed.

Just then, Natalie came running up with Pierre. Her eyes locked onto our hands, and then she looked at me, her mouth open. I silently hushed her with a barely perceptible shake of my head, and she closed her mouth again. I looked over at Pierre, who to my surprise was not holding his beloved spoon. Instead, he had a fork. He licked his lips. "I'm going to buy all the top eggplants at this festival and make a feast."

"Good for you." It was all I could think to say in response, and I hoped that he didn't think I was trying to be sarcastic. Fortunately, his mind was too enraptured with the many ways to cook eggplant. "I'll make eggplant parmesan, happy eggplant, eggplant tempura…" He trailed off as he wandered away, deep in thought. Natalie shrugged and turned to follow him.

Vaughn cleared his throat. "That kid is weird."

I nodded. "Don't I know it. I'm not exactly sure what Natalie sees in him, but she's really happy." I laughed. "When we met him, I was sure that he was no older than twelve! Turns out, he's older than me!"

Vaughn looked shocked, and I felt his hand loosen from mine just a little. "How…how old are you?"

I huffed defensively. "I'm 19. But I'll turn 20 a week from today." His face relaxed, and his hand gripped mine once more.

"That's a relief. I thought you were going to say you were only 16 or something," he grunted.

I stomped my foot. "Hello? I live all alone and run a farm! I'd have to be at least 18, right?" He shrugged, and then I narrowed my eyes at him. "And how old are YOU, Mr. Silver Fox?"

It was his turn to get defensive. His free hand smoothed his hair. "My hair has always been like this. I'm only 27."

I was secretly relieved too. I really didn't care how old he was, but it would be a little tragic if I found out he was twice as old as me or something. I just smiled. "Well, that's OK then." He gave a low chuckle, and then our attention was drawn to the judging table. Felicia announced the winner, and I was delighted to hear my own name. Vaughn let go of my hand so that I could step forward and receive my prize.

Pierre approached me afterwards, a hungry look on his face, and offered to buy the winning eggplant. Being that he was my best friend's boyfriend and all, I just gave it to him. He looked like he wanted to hug me, so I carefully backed away as he instead hugged the large vegetable with glee.

After the festivities were done, I invited Vaughn to come over for dinner. We slowly walked back to my house in the twilight. When we got inside, he snatched up his hat and put it back on his head with a satisfied grunt. I just smiled, and set to work peeling eggplants. They were from the same harvest as the winning one, so they were sure to be good. I made curry out of them, being that I had so few ingredients to choose from (and the carrots I had were definitely out.)

When we were done eating, I hesitated for a moment, then went into the fridge and retrieved a slice of chocolate cake. He raised his eyebrows at it. "What's this?"

"Dessert," I said, placing it on the table in front of him. "I only have one slice, so we'll have to share." He just grunted and picked up his fork, and we ate it in silence, picking at it from opposite sides until it was all gone. I cleaned up the plate, and we moved over to the couch together. He once again removed his hat, placing it on the table. That signaled to me that he was about to continue from where we left off last week.

I was nervous, to say the least. I played with my hands, looking away from him, and I heard him chuckle softly. His hand came to my hair, gently easing the bandanna off. Then I felt his lips on my neck, and I couldn't hold back a surprised squeal. That just made him chuckle again, and he moved my hair out of the way so that he could kiss more of my neck. My face got hot, and my heart started beating even faster than it had been. I relaxed and sighed, tilting my head to make it easier for him. His hand reached around to my other shoulder, and massaged there lightly.

He then brought his hand to my face, urging me to turn towards him. I did, and his lips caught mine in a kiss. His lips were soft and warm. I tentatively reached up and placed my hands on his chest. He made a low noise, then parted his lips. I parted mine and allowed him in. He kissed me tenderly at first, but the pace and intensity soon increased. I was almost dizzy with desire for him.

He paused for a minute to remove his gloves, and then he brought his hands to my waist. I moaned quietly as he slid them up and down my sides. His hands were on me, but they weren't anywhere too forbidden, so I relaxed and allowed him to do what he wanted. He broke away from my mouth and kissed my neck again. As he did, one hand slid up onto my chest and cupped my breast. I gasped loudly, but then sighed and relaxed again as he rubbed his hand gently over my shirt.

I knew where this was going, but I had never been there before. So as excited as I was, I was also absolutely terrified. Vaughn seemed to sense this, and after a few minutes he pulled away, giving me a chaste kiss on the lips. "Good night, Chelsea…" he whispered, picking up his gloves and hat, and departing.

I was going to have REALLY good dreams tonight.


	9. Happy Birthday

Chapter 9

Happy Birthday

Winter came with force, the first day of the season being a snowstorm. Without crops to tend to, my days were pretty free, so I mostly bundled up and fished. But still, I was bored. Wednesday couldn't come soon enough!

It finally arrived, and I woke up that morning thrilled for two reasons. One, Vaughn would be here today. And two, it was my 20th birthday. I didn't have any family, but Natalie's family had pretty much "adopted" me into it, so I knew I could count on them to remember my birthday.

Sure enough, I hadn't been awake very long when there was a pounding at my door. It was Taro, coming to bring me a basket full of bread. It was an odd birthday gift, but I was happy nonetheless. I thanked him and put it away.

"Come on over to our house for lunch. All my young'uns will be there, and we can have a little party," he told me, and I clapped my hands in delight. He left, and I took care of my animals. I now had a cow, a doggie, and a horse in addition to my chickens. I had hatched some eggs that Chichi laid, and that brought the total to three. I did a little fishing to pass the time, then I headed to Natalie's house for lunch.

As Taro had said, the whole family was there, and we ate my favorite meal, curry, together. Natalie presented me with a new frying pan. I could guess where she got it from, since she was dating a Gourmet and all. I raised my eyebrows at her. "Does Pierre know you took this from his house?"

She scowled. "He said I could take it. He has 15 different frying pans anyway." She rolled her eyes. He says they all have different purposes, but that one was a duplicate." I just smiled and thanked her.

I tried to help them clean up, but they insisted that since it was my birthday, I shouldn't have to. I thanked them all for the birthday meal, then I headed home to put up my new frying pan, then I was going to look for Vaughn.

As I approached my house, I saw him leaning against the side. When he saw me, he stooped and picked up the wooden box by his feet. I looked at him questioningly, and he gave me that little half smile. "Happy birthday," he said, handing me the box.

I removed the lid in wonder. It was full of oranges. I looked up at him and smiled widely. "Thank you."

He cleared his throat and fidgeted with his hat. "I know it's hard to get fruit during the winter. When I saw those were in season in one of the towns I travel to, I just thought…" he trailed off. I just smiled at him again, and we went inside so that I could put the fruit away.

While we were inside, I glanced at the couch, and blushed furiously. He must have been able to read my mind, and knew that I was nervous about that. "Let's go for a walk," he said, taking my hand and leading me outside.

We strolled through the forest, admiring the way the snow blanketed everything. We made our way to the mountain area, and found a scenic spot to sit and talk.

"When is your birthday?" I asked him.

"On the 3rd of Spring."

"Oh, so, next season. Hmmmm….you'll be 28 then."

"Uh huh." He adjusted his hat.

I changed the subject. "I love winter. It makes everything look so pretty. But…I don't like the cold that much."

He nodded. "Business slacks off for me during winter. I'm not sure why. You'd think that people would focus more on animals during the winter, since they can't plant crops, but the opposite is true. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that sell all off their animals at the beginning of winter, just so they'll have absolutely no farm chores to do." He snorted. "All that work to get the animals to like you, and then you just have to start all over again with new animals. Waste of time."

I just nodded, listening. Wow, this was the most I'd ever heard him talk at one time. He eyed me. "You're not planning to do that, are you?"

I shook my head furiously. "No way! I'm bored enough as it is. In the other seasons, it was hard enough waiting for Wednesday to come, but waiting in winter is excruciating!" I blushed, realizing that I had just admitted that I wish the rest of the week away just to see him again.

He chuckled. "You like Wednesdays, huh?" I nodded, a little embarrassed. "So do I," he said as he wrapped his arm around me. "Thursdays are pretty nice, too." I rested my head on his shoulder, and we sat in silence for a long time.

After a while, I started shivering , and he rubbed his hand up and down my arm. "Are you cold? Let's go somewhere warm." We walked back down the mountain.

I squeezed his hand. "Let's go to the café." He nodded, and we headed that way.

Inside, we ordered tea and cake. We had just started to eat when Natalie trounced in, plopping herself down at our table. "Oh my god, Chelsea, I have been looking everywhere for you! You will not BELIEVE what Pierre just did."

I stared at her, then gestured with my eyes at Vaughn. "Um, Natalie…" I trailed off, hoping that she would get the hint.

She glanced at Vaughn. "Oh, hey, cowboy." She looked back at me. "So anyway, I asked Pierre if he thought it was sexy for a woman to put whipped cream all over her body. And he gives me this long lecture about how whipped cream will lose its blahblahblah something at body temperature and how it was a bad idea." She widened her eyes at me. "I mean, hello! I was basically offering myself to him there and he totally ignored it! What the hell?"

I shook my head, stifling a laugh. "Nat, maybe you can try again after he hits puberty," I heard Vaughn choke on his tea, and Natalie fumed at me.

"You are not helping!" She stood up suddenly. "Fine, I'll go back and give my boyfriend a bottle, and you go home with Rodeo Boy here! Let me know if he neighs like a horse when you ride him!" She stuck her tongue out at me, and stormed out. I buried my red face in my hands, utterly embarrassed.

Vaughn cleared his throat. "Rodeo Boy?"

I lifted my face out of my hands and rolled my eyes. "She…says things when she's mad. That was pretty tame. You should hear some of the stuff she says to her brother. No wonder the kid has no self esteem."

Vaughn cocked an eyebrow. "And this girl is your best friend?"

I sighed. "I know, I know. But most of the time she's funny and cool."

He just shrugged, and we finished our tea. He walked me back to my house. He started to let go of my hand at the door, but I held on tight as I opened the door. I pulled him inside, and shut the door behind us. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. I knew what I was doing, and what I wanted.

I urged him down onto the couch, and removed his hat, laying it on the table. I smoothed his hair down, and then leaned in and kissed him. He made a small noise of surprise, but quickly regained control and began kissing me back. I stroked his face and neck with my hands. He responded by deftly removing his gloves and sliding his hands over my waist. I sighed a little into his mouth.

He pushed me back on the couch slightly, bringing himself above me. My heart beat furiously and I could feel my whole body blushing, but I was determined not to chicken out. His hand slid up over my shirt, finding my breast again and squeezing it lightly. He kissed me deeply, insistently, and then broke away to kiss at my throat and collarbone. I sighed and shuddered with delight, and I heard a low growl of pleasure emanate from him.

His hand quickly slipped underneath my shirt, and he traced his fingers over my bra. I gasped as he pushed my shirt high on my chest, and brought his mouth there, kissing the skin that was exposed. He expertly flicked the clasp open, and nudged the lacy material aside. He murmured approvingly at the sight. I was breathing heavily to the point of panting as he brought his mouth to one and rolled his tongue over it. I gasped with pleasure, and he continued to kiss and lick at me.

One hand found my waist again, and this time slid downwards. He stroked at my hip, then quickly brought his fingers in between my thighs and pressed at me through the fabric. I cried out in delight, surprised and overwhelmed at the sensation. He rubbed his fingers there lightly, and I thought I would go mad with desire as my eyes rolled back in my head. I moaned deeply, and didn't protest as he brought his fingers to the zipper of my jeans and worked it down. He used both hands to tug at the waistband, urging them down over my thighs.

I was now just in my panties, and I trembled a little as I saw the look of desire in his eyes. His fingers found me again, and it felt even more pleasurable than it had through the jeans. I squirmed against him, relishing the feeling. He caught my mouth in a kiss once more, and it was deep and passionate. I felt something hard grinding against the top of my thigh, and I squeaked as I realized it was him. The idea of that made me feel scared, but thrilled at the same time.

My thoughts were broken off as he slid his whole hand down the front of my panties. His fingers slid easily through the wetness that had pooled there, and I blushed with embarrassment that my desire for him was so apparent. He just groaned with delight, and urged one finger inside of me. I gripped onto his shoulder, crying out. "Does that hurt?" he whispered. I shook my head at him, then closed my eyes again and moaned with pleasure as he touched me. His touch was firm and insistent, and I felt a wonderful tingling sensation throughout my body. It suddenly became very concentrated in one spot, and I shuddered and cried out in ecstasy as I climaxed. He slowed down his fingers, and carefully withdrew them, kissing gently at my neck. I just gasped for breath, trying to recover from the powerful overload of sensation.

His eyes met mine, and he whispered, "Happy birthday."


	10. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Chapter 10

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Vaughn had some bad news the next day. "I won't be back to the island until spring."

"What?" I cried. "But, why?"

He sighed deeply. "I picked up a big job taking a load of cattle to a place pretty much on the other side of the world. It will take the boat about a week to get there, and once we're there I have to make sure the animals all get to the buyers safely. Then it takes a week to come back." He placed his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry, Chelsea."

Tears welled up in my eyes, and I slumped down. Vaughn suddenly looked alarmed. "It's okay! I promise I'll be back!" I sighed and brushed away my tears. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. "I'll be thinking of you every minute." That made me blush. I kissed and hugged him goodbye sadly.

It was hard without him there. Winter had been boring enough, but at least when he was coming twice a week, I had that to look forward to. Now, it just dragged on endlessly. Festivals happened, but because I knew he wouldn't be there, I got into a bit of a funk and refused to go.

On the 24th of winter, Natalie was going on and on about the night of romance she had planned with Pierre for Starry Night that evening. I just sighed and picked at my napkin miserably. Natalie's flow of chatter broke off, and her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my god, Chelsea, I'm being such a jerk. Here I am talking about Starry Night when I know you miss your Rodeo Boy." I had to smile at her little nickname for him. "Maybe next year you two can spend it together." I nodded glumly. Next year was so impossibly far away.

Just then, her grandfather Taro came through the door holding a bundle. "I've got a package here for little Chelsea! It just came in on the boat," he grinned, shoving it into my hands.

I turned it over and over, bewildered. "What could it be?" My heart skipped a beat as I noted the foreign stamps on it. I stood up abruptly, bidding goodbye to Natalie and Taro.

Natalie pouted as I ran out the door. "But I want to see what it is…"

I hurried home and threw myself down on the couch. My fingers tore furiously at the paper. I finally uncovered what was inside. It was a small cow plushie. Tears came to my eyes as I hugged it to my heart, missing Vaughn desperately. I then noticed that something was tucked under the cow's collar.

"Dear Chelsea," it read, "I saw this and it made me think of you and your farm. I miss you. I wish we could be together on Starry Night, but I'll be thinking of you." It was signed, "Vaughn." I sighed happily, rereading the short note over and over again. That night I curled up with the little stuffed cow, and fell asleep happy.

That gave me the boost I needed to be myself again. I happily attended the New Year's Eve Festival in the meadow, knowing that soon it would be spring and I would see him soon. After the festival, I turned the calendar on my wall over to Spring, and looked at it. Spring 3rd, his birthday, would fall on a Wednesday. That would probably be the day he came back.

On the 2nd, I baked him a cake, mustering together all my skills to make it the best I could. I really, really hoped he would come back tomorrow, though I had no way of knowing. If he didn't, I'd have to eat this whole cake myself. I giggled a little at that, then covered it up and went to sleep, nervous and happy.

The next day, I rose bright and early, tending to my animals as quickly as I could. I skipped watering, knowing that they could survive a day without water. Then I hurried down to the beach, hoping to see him. My heart filled with joy as I saw his hat in the distance, and I ran faster. He turned around as I approached and actually smiled at me. I threw my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "Oh, I missed you, I missed you," I cried into his shoulder. He patted my back and kissed the top of my head. "I missed you too," he whispered. I tilted my head up, and our lips met again and again.

After a while, I pulled away a little and smiled up into his face. "Happy birthday," I said.

He chuckled. "Where's my present?" he joked.

I smiled slyly. "You have to come to my house to get it."

He actually blushed a little and looked shocked, then smirked. I just rolled my eyes, and led him by the hand to my house. Once we were inside, I uncovered the birthday cake. He stared at it, his mouth open. "Wow, no one has ever made me a birthday cake before."

I smiled. "Well, I'm glad I could do that for you." I cut us both a slice, and we ate it happily. He told me briefly about his trip, and I listened enthusiastically.

After we finished eating, our eyes met, and I flew into his arms. We kissed each other hungrily, and he started to push me towards the couch. I tugged on his shirt, urging him in the other direction - towards the bed. He grunted happily and moved with me. He pushed me down onto the bed, and it was even better than in my fantasy. I landed on the bed backwards, and he layered himself on top of me. He shoved my skirt up to my hips, parted my thighs with his knee, and then laid in between.

He threw his hat aside, then kissed me urgently. I wanted it just as much as him, but I was scared. I had a man in my bed for the first time ever, and I knew where this was going. My heart pounded in my chest, and as he slid his hand under my shirt, he felt it. "Your heart's pounding so hard," he whispered in my ear. "Are you scared of me?"

"A little…" I gasped.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," he whispered, as he gently caressed one breast with his hand. He nuzzled at my neck, and I sighed happily. My hands reached up and started working at his shirt, trying to unbutton it. After some struggle, I managed to get all the tiny buttons undone, and I parted his shirt and touched his bare chest. It felt smooth and firm. He pulled away and removed it and the overlaying vest, and came back down on me. I raked my fingertips across his back, and he moaned appreciatively. He lifted me up slightly to pull my shirt over my head.

He kissed at me through my bra, then reached around the back to unhook it. He eased it off and brought his mouth back to the bare flesh. I moaned and squirmed, then he brought his lips back to mine. Our bare chests pressed together, and I loved the sensation. I let my hands slide down his back, and then rubbed them against the rough material of his jeans. He responded by grinding himself into me. I cried out with pleasure, but the denim against my bare thighs was a little too rough. I brought my hands to the front of his waist and fumbled with his belt. He pulled away for a moment, rearing up on his knees.

I watched, trembling, from the bed as he unbuckled and slid his belt off, throwing it to the side. The buckle hit the floor with a clank, and his hands went to the button on his jeans. He unbuttoned it, and then unzipped the zipper. He pushed his jeans down over his hips, stepping off the bed for a moment to remove them. Then he was back on me suddenly, our underwear the only thing between us. As he kissed me, I could feel his hardness pressing urgently against my panties, and I once again became scared and excited. I whimpered a little, and Vaughn pulled away to look me in the eyes. "Is this your first time?" he whispered.

I nodded, averting my eyes in embarrassment. He took my chin and made me face him again. "Don't worry," he whispered. "I'll be gentle." I shuddered as his hands moved down to my panties, removing them quickly. He slid off his own boxers, and parted my thighs wider with his hands. I bit my lip, looking scared. "Relax," he said softly. "It will hurt more if you tense up." I nodded and tried to relax, relieved that at least he knew what he was doing.

He guided himself into my wettest spot, and pressed in just a little bit. It felt unusually pleasing in a strange way. He pushed further, and I whimpered. "Just relax," he whispered. "Chelsea…don't be afraid. It will hurt for just a second, I promise." I nodded, trusting him. Then he thrust all the way inside of me with one quick movement, and I cried out in pain. He stroked my face, soothing me.

After a moment's rest, he began to move again. He thrust in and out, gently at first, and then with increasing speed and pressure. It felt much better than I had ever hoped, and I moaned with pleasure, squirming underneath him. The way he was angling his hips at me was hitting me just right, and I could feel my climax starting to build up. I wrapped my arms around him, urging him in close to me, and then I cried out in ecstasy as I released. Something changed in the way he was bucking against me, and he whispered my name hoarsely over and over. He shuddered, and I felt something warm spill inside of me. He collapsed on top of me, breathing heavily. I just stroked at his back happily, relishing the feeling of being together.


	11. Yeehaw!

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Yeehaw!

After we had recovered, he dragged me into the shower. I was still a little shy, and hesitant to look at him naked, so I kept my eyes up as much as I could. He gently washed away the remnants of our experience from my thighs.

"Heh, I remember when you answered the door in a towel," he chuckled. I blushed deeply. "It was open a little at the side, and I could see the curve of your waist and hips." I really blushed then. He pulled me close, and growled in my ear. "That's why I had to leave so suddenly. I was afraid of what I might do if I stayed right then."

I laughed nervously, and he reached for my hand, placing it on his hardness. "See what you do to me, Chelsea?" he growled. My face burned and I squirmed a little, but secretly I was very pleased. He kissed me roughly, and I tentatively stroked at him. I was still a little afraid to look at it.

As he kissed me, his hand came to the back of my head and started to gently push it down. I was confused as to what he was doing at first, but when it hit me, I started sputtering and protesting weakly. "Oh, but…but I don't know how…"

"I'll tell you what to do," he grunted, and so I acquiesced, sinking to my knees. It was his birthday, after all. What I had been trying to avoid looking at was now right in my face, and my eyes darted around nervously, trying to look anywhere but there. "Go ahead, put your mouth on it," he urged me, and so I grasped him with my shaking hands, and took him in my mouth. He groaned deeply, and I was encouraged to continue. He tangled his fingers in my hair, guiding the movement of my head as I slowly moved my mouth up and down on him. He grunted other instructions at me, and I followed them the best I could. I still wasn't sure if I was doing it correctly, until he twitched and convulsed, groaning out my name, and I felt him pulse into my mouth. I thought about spitting it out; after all, it would just go down the shower drain. But I thought that wasn't very ladylike, so I quickly swallowed before I could change my mind, pressing my fingertips to my lips as I did so. I looked up at him, and he smiled lazily down at me with half closed eyes.

Then he urged me to my feet, kissing at my neck and shoulders. He pressed me against the shower wall, and then kissed his way down. I gasped in shock and pleasure as his tongue lashed out between my legs. It felt so good, that I got a little dizzy, and my knees threatened to buckle. I was so wobbly that I could barely stand up. Vaughn pulled away, clucking his tongue. "I think that might be a little too much for you to handle." I was disappointed, until he shut the water off, threw me a towel, and dried himself off, dragging me back out to the bed.

He threw me down on the bed, and quickly buried his face between my thighs. I cried out in pleasure as he caressed me with his tongue. He quickly moved his hand up and worked me with that as well, licking between and around his fingers. I just moaned and writhed, totally overcome with ecstasy. Before long, I was shuddering hard as I exploded with pleasure.

He chuckled and smirked as he brought himself up beside me, pulling me in close. I laid my wet head on his chest, and tried to catch my breath.

After a while, I had recovered. He stood up and pulled on his boxers, and I pulled on my panties. I started to reach for my clothes, but he stopped me. "Don't bother getting all the way dressed again. We're not done yet." He winked at me, and I trembled with excitement. "You can cover up with this," he said as he handed me his black shirt. I slipped into it. It was way too large. He chuckled at the sight and grabbed his hat, setting it on my head. "You look pretty cute." I giggled.

Just then, the front door flew open. I shrieked and tried to cover myself. Vaughn just stood like nothing was wrong. Our uninvited guest was Natalie, and her eyes widened in shock as she uttered, "Ooops." She stared for a moment to take in the scene; me wearing Vaughn's shirt and hat, and him standing nonchalantly in his boxers, the rest of our clothes strewn on the floor. "YEEHAW!" she yelled. "Y'all look like you're having lots of fun!"

"Natalie!" I shrieked at her. "Get out of here!"

"Oh, I'm going, I'm going. But you better come see me later with DETAILS."

"Get out!" I screamed at her.

She slammed the door behind her, and she could be heard making a long whinny like a horse, then bursting out into laughter as she walked away.

Vaughn shrugged. "Well, at least she walked in then and not earlier," he said. He walked over to the door and bolted it. "You really ought to lock this, you know?" he admonished me.

I sheepishly agreed. "I've just never had a reason to before…"

We ate some more birthday cake, then he urged me back over to the bed. This time, he laid on his back, easing off his boxers. I stood dumbstruck, not sure what I was supposed to do. "Come on, climb on," he grunted. "You wanted to see if I neigh like a horse when you ride me, right?"

I blushed, covering my mouth. "That was Natalie that said that…" Nonetheless, I removed my panties and his shirt, and tentatively climbed on top of him. I squealed a little. "I'm going to fall off!"

"No, you won't," he growled, and thrust himself inside of me. I cried out with surprise. He groaned in pleasure, and I squealed with delight as he bucked me up and down. I was still a little sore from my first time not more than an hour ago, but that was quickly washed away by how good it felt. Vaughn reached up and grasped at my hips, pulling me down against him. I moved in close, swiveling my hips slightly. I could feel the pressure building up, and I bit my lip as I concentrated hard. I placed my hands on Vaughn's chest, and then I could hear loud moaning. It took me a moment to realize that it was me making that sound, but I couldn't stop it. I climaxed against him, then collapsed onto his chest. He stroked my back gently, letting me recover, then he thrust with renewed passion up into me, and within moments was enjoying his own climax.

He held me for a while, and then he looked at the clock and sighed. "I have to go…I have a lot of business with Mirabelle to tend to. But I'll see you again this evening." I nodded happily, and he dressed and departed.

I dressed as well, and attempted to set my rumpled hair straight. I finally gave up on it and set out for the main area of the island. I had been thinking about something. My bed was only a single – not big enough for two people to sleep comfortably in. I wanted Vaughn to sleep overnight with me, so I was going to have to get a bigger bed.

I walked into Gannon's shop. "What can I do for ya, missy?" he boomed at me.

"I need to buy a large bed," I said.

"Large bed?" he repeated.

I didn't want to have to explain myself, so I blushed. "Yeah, I just need more room to sleep…and, and…I just want a bigger bed."

His little brat daughter Eliza stuck her head around the corner. "She's lying, Daddy. She wants to let that cowboy sleep in her bed. Uh huh, it's true. I saw them getting all kissy face on the beach this morning."

I just gaped at her. Gannon scolded his daughter. "Hush, Eliza. I told you to stay out of other people's business!" She stuck her tongue out at me and retreated. My face was burning with embarrassment, and I stared at the floor.

Gannon turned back to me. "I wasn't trying to judge yer life, Missy. It's just that I don't deal in beds. Yer gonna have to special order that from Chen."

"Oh," I mumbled, miserable that I had endured that embarrassment for nothing. "Thank you." I headed across the way to Chen's. Approaching the counter, I eyed Charlie nervously for a minute, wondering if he had anything to blurt out. He just smiled cutely at me, and I tried to relax.

"Chen, I need to buy a large bed."

"All right, the husband's bed is 10000G." He pointed to a picture in the catalog.

I peered at it. "Hey, that looks exactly the same size as the one I already have."

He shrugged apologetically. "It's the only size I can order."

I sighed in defeat, figuring I could push them together, and prepaid for the "husband's bed." The fact that it was called that made me tingle with excitement. Chen promised me that the bed would come in on the boat tomorrow. So Vaughn wouldn't be able to sleep over tonight…or maybe he wouldn't mind just one night cramped up in the little bed together. I couldn't wait to see him and find out.


	12. Details

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I went to see Natalie. I walked in her house, putting my hands on my hips and cocking my head at her. She squealed and dragged me in her bedroom. "Ooh, I knew I could count on you! I need hot details NOW. My sex life is lame. I wanna hear how you rode that cowboy."

I rolled my eyes. "No, it's private."

Natalie gaped at me for a moment, then shook me by the shoulders. "Don't give me that crap! You HAVE to tell me. Please? Please?" She went on begging piteously until I caved, telling her what happened from start to finish. I had to stop at times to bury my flushed face in my hands, or to wait for her to stop laughing.

When I finished up, she sighed heavily. "I am so jealous. Of the sex you're having, not of your boyfriend. I still think he looks like a mean old grump." She made a grandiose gesture. "MY boyfriend is way hotter of course." She slouched and slid her eyes up at the ceiling. "But definitely not as fun. All he wants to do is eat. Eat, talk about eating, think about eating. I'm like, 'Eat me, dumb ass!'"

I burst out into laughter. "Well, maybe you have to be more forward with him."

Natalie stared blankly at me. "I can't get any more forward than I already am! He just gets that weird scared look on his face, and I have to back off."

I shrugged. "Pierre's probably just not ready yet."

Natalie groaned, hugging her knees into her chest. "But when is he gonna be ready?" she whined. "I need to get some, like NOW! You know, if I had less morals…"

I rolled my eyes at her. "You can have LESS?"

She snatched up her pillow and threw it at me, and I deftly ducked it. "As I was SAYING," she huffed, "if I had less morals, there would be no problem. I'd go get it on with that hot fisherman dude on the beach."

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, supposing he doesn't want you either?"

Natalie scowled. "Why would anyone not want this?" She gestured at herself. "Besides, who is he to reject me? He smells like fish and lives in a shack! And furthermore…" she continued ranting against the guy for hypothetically rejecting her. I just laughed until I had tears in my eyes.

"…and he probably has crabs, anyway," she finished up, sniffing haughtily.

"Okay, Nat, that was hilarious, but I gotta go find my boyfriend." I stood up to leave.

She tugged at my sleeve. "Ride him extra good tonight. For me, okay?" I just shook her off with a laugh and continued out the door. "I better hear a freaking stampede coming from your farm tonight! You lucky slut!" she yelled after me. Her brother heard that and gave me a strange look, which I avoided and hurried outside.

As I stepped into the sunshine, I spotted Vaughn also departing from the animal shop next door. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and walked over, sidling up next to him. "Hey," he grunted, which would have seemed cold, if he weren't taking my hand at the same time.

"Are you all finished up?" I asked him. He nodded, and we walked in silence, in no direction in particular. We ended up in the shade of the forest, and we sat down on a log together. I looked up at him. "Um…" He looked at me questioningly. I traced my fingers on his knee, raking my nails lightly against the black denim. "I ordered a bigger bed."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, does that mean you want me to start spending the night?" I flushed and squirmed. Oh no, maybe he thinks that's dumb. But if he doesn't want to…he broke off my thoughts. "Great. I won't have to stay at the inn any more. I hate that place." I giggled, relieved.

That night, I cooked him dinner, and then it was time for bed. I was nervous, because honestly, I was still really sore from everything we had done that morning. I watched with trepidation as he removed his hat, peeled off his vest, unbuttoned and removed his shirt. Then he unzipped his black jeans and eased them off, leaving him clad only in his boxers. I changed into just a T-shirt. He got into bed first, and I climbed in after him. I turned away from him, letting him spoon me, since it was the only way we were both going to fit in the bed. He nuzzled his face in my hair, and I got a thrill through my whole body. Then he whispered, "Good night, Chelsea."

I was slightly stunned that he wasn't feeling me up or something. I felt a strange mixture of relief and disappointment. "Oh…aren't we going to…?" I trailed off.

"Are you ready for more?" he asked, squeezing me a little tighter.

"No, not really."

"Saddle sore already?" he grunted.

I squirmed in his arms. "Enough with the horse jokes! I'm not the one that started that!" I giggled, and he just chuckled. I relaxed into his arms, and we fell asleep like that.

The next morning, I woke up and stretched. It was pretty cozy sleeping like that, but I was happy that it wasn't going to be the permanent arrangement. I felt just a little stiff from being unable to move very much throughout the night.

I went about my farm chores as Vaughn went off to take care of animal business. The bed was delivered around noon, and I showed them where to put it. "That's right, up next to the other one. All the way up next to it." The delivery men seemed hesitant to do it, and but I insisted that the beds be placed together. Gee, did every couple in this region sleep in separate beds? That seemed pretty strange to me. Finally, they finished fumbling around with the mattress, and they left.

I was disappointed that evening, however. I had completely forgotten that Vaughn didn't stay on the island Thursday nights. He took the ferry back home. I was sad, but I accepted it. He grunted his goodbyes at me, then kissed me passionately, whispering in my ear that he couldn't wait to see me again.

I couldn't wait to see him again, either. I would be counting down the days until Wednesday came.

That Sunday, I was surprised when I heard a knock on my door. It was Alisa from the church. "I just came to tell you that the Harvest Goddess Festival will be tomorrow. You should invite someone you like to the dance. Hope to see you there!" She departed, and I was left feeling a little sad. I couldn't invite who I liked to the dance, because he wasn't here on Sundays. I had totally forgotten that this event was coming up, or I would have said something while he was here. But, that kind of festival probably wasn't his thing, anyway. And there was no way he could come on a Monday, anyway. I sighed and moped around for the rest of the day.

On Monday morning, I did my farm chores as usual, then went back inside. I changed into a white cap sleeved blouse and a blue skirt, and slipped on some black dress shoes. I undid my bandanna and pulled my hair up loosely, letting it fall around my face. Even if I was going alone, I still wanted to look my best. I had wanted to arrive with Natalie so that I didn't have to walk in alone, but she was going with Pierre, of course. Her brother Eliot was going with Julia, and Denny was going with Lanna, a pop singer who had just moved to the island. So I was the only young person that was dateless. I tried not to get depressed about it, and headed off to the dance. I figured old Taro would dance with me, anyway.

When I got there, my heart skipped a beat when I saw Vaughn standing there, holding a flower. I hurried over to him, smiling happily. I didn't say anything, just threw my arms around his waist. He chuckled, patting my back, then he leaned down and gave me a little kiss. "You look nice," he grunted. "Meeting someone?"

"No, silly!" I said. "I just got dressed up because everyone else was. I'm so glad you came," I whispered.

He tucked the flower behind my ear. "Today is a holiday everywhere. I didn't have any work to do, so I thought I'd surprise you," he said quietly. I just hugged him again. The old jerkface that I met last spring was turning out to be a really great boyfriend.


	13. Signs of Love

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Signs of Love

The rest of the dance was wonderful. We were in our own little world, me with my head resting on his chest, and him wrapping his arms around me. After it was over, he walked me back to my house. It was dark inside, only the moonlight illuminating the room. I moved to turn on the lights, but he stopped me. I trembled with anticipation as he locked the door behind us, then pulled me in close.

He gently brushed my hair out of my face, then leaned in for a kiss. His hands felt soft as he caressed my shoulders. I sighed a little as he broke away from my mouth to kiss down my neck. He eased me over to the bed, gently pushing me down by my shoulders to lie down. I stretched out, and he positioned himself above me. He unbuttoned each button of my blouse slowly, with care, then kissed the skin that he had uncovered. I loved how slowly he was taking this. I was being driven mad with anticipation, but I loved every second of it.

He ran his fingers lightly over my body, tracing circles on my stomach. I shivered with delight, and then he brought his hands to my hip and slowly unzipped the zipper there. He eased my skirt off, pausing to kiss the tops of my thighs for a moment, then he pulled away to undress himself. I watched, fascinated, as he removed everything but his boxers, then brought himself back to me. He once again covered my body with soft, gentle kisses, then he brought his fingers to the outside of my panties. I shuddered with pleasure as he carefully moved his fingers in a small circle, and I could feel myself getting wet. The whole time he did this, his eyes were fixed on my face, watching my reaction to everything that he did. He just smiled lazily as I moaned and squirmed against his hand.

He brought his hands to the sides of my hips, slowly peeling off my panties. Then his fingers returned to the same spot, this time touching the bare, wet flesh there. He groaned with pleasure, slipping one finger inside of me carefully. I whimpered as he drew it in and out, whispering incoherently to myself. After he had teased me sufficiently, he eased off his boxers and brought himself into position. I could feel the tip of his hardness pressing at me, and I trembled with pleasure at the sensation. He paused a moment, bringing his hand to my face and stroking the side of it gently. He looked into my eyes and whispered, "I love you, Chelsea."

I thought my heart was going to burst, I was so happy. I gasped for a moment, then whispered back, "I love you too, Vaughn." With that, he closed his eyes and lowered his head, groaning as he pressed himself inside of me. I cried out in delight as he moved against me. He made deep groaning and grunting noises, which were so incredibly sexy, I thought the sound of those alone would drive me over the edge. I could tell that I was giving him an immense amount of pleasure, and that made me indescribably happy.

I could feel something beginning to stir inside of me, so I tilted my hips up at him and arched my back to get the most pleasure that I could. I tightened my muscles and concentrated intently on his movements against me, and I began to moan as I felt myself reaching the peak. Vaughn reacted to that by increasing the pace of his thrusts, and he crossed the threshold at the same time as me, releasing a satisfied groan at the double sensation. He caught his breath above me, then leaned down and kissed me tenderly. He rolled off of me carefully, and laid next to me. I snuggled up to his chest, breathing in the scent of his cologne, and happily drifted off to sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I was disappointed to find that he was gone. I rolled over, sighing, and spotted a piece of paper on the bed next to me. It read:

Chelsea,

I'm sorry I had to leave, but I have to get back to work. I'll see you on Wednesday.

I love you.

-Vaughn

I closed my eyes, holding the piece of paper to my chest contentedly. So I didn't just imagine that he said it. He does love me. My heart leapt with happiness, and I lolled around in bed for a while longer, thinking about Vaughn, until I finally made myself get up and take care of my farm.

I wished the day away, until night finally came and I was able to go to bed. When I woke up, I jumped out of bed, and scurried to complete all the tasks on the farm. I was frantically dumping pet food in the horse's trough when I was startled by someone clearing their throat and nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked at the door, clutching at my chest, and Vaughn chuckled at my reaction. "What, aren't you happy to see me?" he said tonelessly. I nodded, embarrassed, and ran over to hug him.

We spent two wonderful days together. I kissed him goodbye sadly on Thursday night.

That Sunday was Spring Thanksgiving. The tradition was that guys were supposed to give cookies to girls that had given them chocolate in winter. Well, I hadn't seen Vaughn on Winter Thanksgiving, so I hadn't given him chocolate. Besides, he wouldn't be here today anyway. Maybe he might bring me chocolates on Wednesday instead…my mind trailed off as I tugged at a stubborn weed.

That evening, I was sitting on Natalie's bed, chit chatting with her. Taro came in holding a box. My heart leapt, and I wished with all my might that it was for me. Sure enough, it was, just off the boat. Nat encouraged me to open it right there, so I tore at the paper. Sure enough, inside was a small box of cookies. I squealed happily. Nat sniffed. "My cookies look way better than that."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, Pierre is a gourmet." She had already shared the ridiculously large platter of cookies he had presented her with. There must have been a hundred different cookies, all shapes, sizes and flavors. We were both a little full on cookies right now, so I knew I'd have to save these for later. I noticed that there was no note attached, so I lifted the box of cookies out to look underneath. My curiosity was piqued when I saw pink tissue paper underneath. I carefully lifted it up, and then dropped it back down before Natalie could see.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "What's in there?" she asked suspiciously.

"N-nothing…well, I'll see you later," I said, quite unconvincingly.

Natalie groaned. "Oh, geez, Chelsea, you are the WORST liar." She snatched the whole package away from me before I could stop her.

"Hey!" I cried out, desperately grabbing at her to reclaim it. She dodged me skillfully, turning her back to me as she worked the box of cookies out again to see what was underneath. She tossed the pink tissue paper aside, then wolf whistled and howled with laughter, setting the package on the bed. I snatched it back from her.

I blushed furiously as I looked down into the box. Lying there, neatly folded up, was a very delicate pair of pink silk panties, trimmed with black lace. A matching bra lay beneath that. I plucked at the small scrap of paper tucked there, and unfolded it. "I want to see you in this on Wednesday." I blushed again, then gathered up all my stuff, scowling at Natalie. She was still cracking up. "Oh shut up," I snapped at her. "You're just jealous because your boyfriend is too little to go into a lingerie store." I stomped out, and I heard her yelling after me.

"YOU shut up!" I heard grumbling start up, and she slammed the door behind me. I giggled a little to myself, knowing that we would be fine again tomorrow.

I couldn't wait for Wednesday to come. I got up at the crack of dawn, feeding my animals quickly, and then I jumped in the shower. I pulled my hair up in a loose ponytail, and nervously slipped into the presents that Vaughn got for me. They fit perfectly. He must really be paying attention to my body. I giggled as I imagined him using his hands to show a saleslady the size of my breasts. I slipped a dress on over the new garments, and hurried down to the beach to meet his boat.

The sun was just coming up over the water as I reached the shore. The boat was approaching in the distance, and I rocked nervously on my heels as I waited for it to dock. Vaughn stepped out and locked eyes with me. I smiled, jittery, and he just stalked over with no expression on his face. I got scared for a moment. What was wrong? Did I do something? He grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me away from the beach. I stumbled a little to keep up with his long strides as he made his way towards my farm. He still didn't speak, and I was at a loss for words as to what to say to him anyway, so I just kept quiet as I hurried along behind him.

We reached my farmhouse, and he yanked the front door open, pushing me inside, and then locked the door behind us. I was really worried now, so I opened my mouth to speak. Before I could get anything out, he turned at me and growled, "Oh God, Chelsea, I want to fuck you so bad!" I was too stunned to respond, but I could feel my whole body rushing with desire as he dragged me onto the bed, pulling my dress over my head with one smooth movement. He groaned happily, seeing the lingerie there. "Mmm…it's even better than I've been imagining," he grunted as he tore off all of his own clothes. He continued talking through hot, desperate kisses. "I've been thinking about you wearing that ever since I got it. I'm about to explode, I want you so bad." I just moaned and writhed happily under him.

He rubbed his fingers against the silky outside of the panties, groaning with delight at the moisture I'm sure he could feel seeping through them. He peeled them off quickly, then moved back on top of me and thrust into me. I cried out joyfully at the feeling. His thrusts were rapid and powerful, and I wrapped my thighs around his waist, holding on for dear life as he bucked me around. The incredible friction brought me to climax without me even having to try, and the force of my release brought him over the edge as well. He groaned loudly, spilling out deep inside of me. We both shuddered in ecstasy, enjoying the aftershock together.


	14. Festivals

Chapter 14

Festivals

The Sheep Festival happened not long after. I didn't have a sheep, so I wouldn't be able to participate. I was just happy because it meant that Vaughn and I got to spend three days in a row together, since it fell on a Friday.

As we were standing around at the festival, Vaughn turned to me. "Why don't you have any sheep?"

I shrugged. "I already have more to do on the farm than I can handle. I have plenty of time in the day, just not enough energy. I've been concentrating on crops, because they're a bigger money maker than animals, at least to start with." I patted the sheep in front of us. "I hope to have sheep someday, though." Vaughn just grunted, and seemed lost in thought.

The Cooking Festival came soon after that. I was actually disappointed when Pierre announced it, because it would fall on a Wednesday. Sometimes, if there were non animal related festivals that fell on Wednesday or Thursday, Vaughn wouldn't bother coming to the island. I hadn't asked him if he were coming or not, so I didn't know whether to expect him.

So, I was positively delighted when I walked into the meadow and saw Vaughn on the other side, talking to Mirabelle with his back turned to me. I snuck up behind him and poked him in the back. He jumped, startled, and then turned around to face me. "Hey," he grunted, but I could tell by the blush on his cheeks that he was happy to see me. We walked to a quiet corner of the meadow, and he scooped me up in his arms, kissing me warmly. "I was done with work and had some time to kill, so I thought I'd come on by," he told me.

I tilted my head at him. "Why is it that when there's a festival in town, you never come by my house first?"

He chuckled. "Well, for one, I like seeing the expression on your face when you're surprised to see me. It's even better in public, because you're trying to act all calm, but I can tell you're fighting back the urge to squeal. You look so cute." I blushed, and he continued. "And the other reason is that I usually get here early to help set up for the festivities. There aren't that many able bodied men on this island, so I like to lend Gannon and Chen a hand." I just nodded and kissed him again, then went over to talk to Pierre to see about entering into the contest.

I looked over the categories, and after some careful consideration, I decided to enter into the desserts competition. Honestly, I wasn't even sure why I was trying. I had almost no ingredients to choose from, and while they weren't low quality, they definitely weren't gourmet standard. I left Vaughn in the meadow while I went to make my entry. I paced around my kitchen, thumbing through the recipes I had received from the café owner. Cakes were out, since I didn't have flour. I could make strawberry mochi…but I didn't really like mochi all that much myself. So I finally settled on ice cream. All that required was milk and eggs. I threw in some freshly harvested strawberries to make it sweet, and I stuck it in the freezer, taking it out every fifteen minutes to stir it thoroughly. I didn't have an ice cream churn, so this was the best it was going to get.

After about three hours, it seemed solid enough. So I hurried back to the festival, making it just in time for the tasting, and placed it on the judging table. I waited with trepidation for Pierre to taste it. I was relieved that he didn't make a scary face when he tried it, but I still ended up losing to Charlie's pudding.

I pouted a little over losing to a kid. But, he had learned to be a pretty good cook since it was just him and his father living together. I guess it was a survival trait.

Not long after that, the Spring Crop Festival arrived. I couldn't believe how fast this season was flying by! I was very disappointed at the festival, however. I had planted a patch of potatoes late in the season, but a succession of cloudy days hampered their growth, and they were still not ready for harvest. I sadly carried a potato from earlier in the season that I had saved for eating. It wasn't horrible looking; it was unblemished and a decent size. But it wasn't the kind of quality that could win the contest, that was for sure. Still, I didn't want to come empty handed, so I brought it with me.

Of course, it lost. I sighed, and Vaughn looked at me. I glared at him. "What, are you going to tell me that the other farmers just took better care of their crops than I did?"

He looked shocked. "No, I was going to ask if you wanted to go home now." I blushed, embarrassed that I had assumed the worst of him. He took my hand and we headed for my house. "Besides," he grunted, "I don't say stuff like that."

Now it was my turn to look shocked. "You do too! You said almost that exact thing to me when I lost the Summer Crop Festival. Remember? The tomatoes?"

He furrowed his brow, trying to remember. Realization crossed his face, and he grimaced. "Yeah, I did say something like that. I've got to learn to watch my mouth," he mumbled. We reached my house. Vaughn cleared his throat and then said, "Well, I have a little time before the ferry leaves…"

"Oh…really?" I said, looking down at the ground while tugging at my bandanna. He suddenly scooped me up in his arms, and I squealed out in surprise. He chuckled at my reaction as he carried me through the door, and I started giggling too. He dropped me on the bed, and then leaned over me, tickling me mercilessly. I squeaked and laughed until tears came to my eyes, and suddenly he stopped tickling me and started kissing me instead.

I moaned happily, and we quickly started shedding our clothes, our lips still locked together. He pulled me on top of him, and I cried out with delight as I eased myself down on his length. He tilted his head back, groaning deeply. I just rocked back and forth on him as he grasped at my hips, guiding my movements. "My god, Chelsea, you're so tight," he whispered huskily.

It felt so amazing, making love to him. It was a feeling unlike anything I had ever imagined. He always knew just how to move, how to touch me. He was just a little on the rough side with me, but I liked that too.

I pressed myself firmly against him, biting my lip and feeling my face flush. "Oh, Vaughn, Vaughn!" I cried out as I exploded with pleasure. He just narrowed his eyes at me, smiling contentedly at the ecstasy he had brought me to. I held onto the feeling for as long as I could, then I collapsed onto his chest, weak with satisfaction.

After a moment, he gently urged me off of him, and he got off the bed, standing by the side. He pulled me by my ankles to the edge of the bed, and nestled himself between my thighs once again, thrusting inside of me. Since he was standing up, there was even more strength and force in his thrusts, and I screamed out with desire. He grasped my thighs roughly, pulling me into him as he slammed against me over and over. My whole body reverberated with overwhelming ecstasy. Suddenly, his thrusts changed slightly, and he groaned loudly as he released.

He leaned over me, panting for breath, and planted dozens of kisses on my face and neck. "Oh, Chelsea…" he sighed. "I can't get enough of you."


	15. Staying

Chapter 15

Staying

I kissed Vaughn goodbye that night. It would be summer before I saw him again. Which was of course, only two days away.

That Thursday, we went for a walk in the forest. I was alarmed when a couple of wild dogs ran up to us, barking loudly. I backed away slowly, but Vaughn stepped in front of me, squatting down to get on the dogs' level. He stretched his balled up fist to the bigger dog, who sniffed it suspiciously, then lowered his head, allowing Vaughn to pet him.

"Wow, you really do have a way with animals," I commented as he repeated the action with the other dog.

He just nodded. "Go ahead, you can pet them too." I hesitated for a moment. They looked pretty mangy, but they looked up at me so earnestly that I couldn't resist patting them a little bit. They panted happily. Vaughn gave a little smile. "See, you're good with animals, too."

The following week, the Chicken Festival came around. I entered Chichi, the chicken that Vaughn had given me in apology last year. So, he had a vested interest in seeing the bird win. We waited with bated breath for the ranks to be announced, but alas, Chichi came in 2nd place. Mirabelle confided in me that it was very close, and that she had wanted me to win, but she had to be fair.

Vaughn and I walked back to my house, and he carried Chichi. He was deep in thought as he placed her back in the coop. He looked around. "You know, you could make this henhouse larger." He thought for a moment. "The barn too. You have plenty of room to expand it and keep more animals."

I sighed. "Yeah, I've thought about doing that. But it seems kind of like a waste, because I don't think I can handle a whole herd of livestock."

"I can," was his reply.

I thought I had misheard him. "Huh?" I asked.

"I can handle it." He turned towards me. "I could stay here and take care of your animals."

Stay here? He wants to stay here with me? All the time? My mind was racing, but I almost couldn't believe it was real. "Oh …" I said quietly.

"Unless you don't want me to stay here," he grunted, turning back around.

"No! I DO want you to stay here!" I cried out, a little more emphatically than I had meant to.

He turned back around, that hint of a smile playing on his lips. "All right then."

I ran forward and hugged him around the waist. He sighed, smoothing the wrinkles in my bandanna out, then leaning down and kissing the top of my head. "I want to be with you all the time, Chelsea," he whispered. "I can't stand being away from you so much."

I just hugged him tighter, so happy I thought I was going to die. I thought of something though, and I pulled away. "What about your job?"

He shrugged. "I won't do it anymore. I can make just as much money raising animals here." He said it as simply as that.

Vaughn went back on the ferry that night to settle his business with the trader's company, and to get his belongings. Meanwhile, I visited Gannon to order a full expansion of the barn and chicken coop. Vaughn said that we could also keep male animals, something I had never done before, so that we could breed our own animals instead of buying all of them.

He returned Wednesday night. I was a little jittery at the idea of him just moving in with me. What would the other islanders think? I resolved myself to try to be more like Vaughn and not worry as much about what other people thought of me. I was an adult, and we wouldn't be hurting anyone by living together.

He dropped his bag on the floor, then unzipped it and started unpacking silently. I could see a little wisp of a smile on his face, and I knew he was happy with his decision.

Summer went along smoothly. Vaughn left once, briefly, to get the animals we would be adding to the farm. Those included a rooster, a bull, three heifers, and five sheep, one of whom was male. I had several incubators added to the chicken coop, and he placed the fertilized eggs in them so that we could increase our chicken population.

I was a little frightened the first time that I saw a bull take our cow. "Vaughn, he's killing her! Stop him!" I pleaded with him, tugging at his arm frantically. The cow bawled and mooed loudly, looking very disturbed as the bull attempted to do his thing.

He just chuckled. "She's fine. Believe me, I've seen it happen often enough. That's just the way it goes." I finally had to leave, unable to watch the horrifying show. I thought to myself that maybe Vaughn learned his rough ways in bed from watching bulls, and it made me giggle.

We made great roommates. He was quiet and reserved, not surprisingly, throughout the evening, and I chattered happily about whatever topic was on my mind at the moment. He no longer seemed annoyed by my propensity to talk, but instead listened with a bemused expression on his face.

Then there was another thing. When we only saw each other a couple of times a week, of course we made love both of those days, sometimes more than once in a day. I had never thought about if that pattern would change or not once we saw each other every day. It didn't.

One night, after we had already made love every day for the past five days, I attempted to reject him nicely. "Wow, I'm really tired," I said, slipping under the covers before he was anywhere near the bed. I rolled to face away from his side of the bed. It wasn't that I didn't want him. I did, I wanted him badly. But my body seriously needed a rest.

Vaughn shut out the lights and climbed in bed behind me. He must have gotten my message, because he didn't attempt anything. He just snuggled up behind me. We lay still for a while, but slowly I became aware of something hard moving against my leg. I groaned a little, the thought of him being hard making me wet, but I fought back my feelings, reminding myself that my poor battered body needed a break from it. Vaughn just innocently nuzzled at my neck, which only made it worse. I sighed and trembled, and his arm that was around my waist moved up. He gently brushed his fingertips against one breast. I couldn't hold back a moan, and I could hear him chuckle softly. He continued to tease me, touching me very lightly and breathing in my ear, while his erection still pressed against my thigh insistently.

Finally, with a groan of defeat, I moved to roll towards him, onto my back. He rolled back to give me room, then in a flash he was over me, snatching my panties off. He coaxed me onto my hands and knees. My heart beat rapidly, nervous of being in the awkward and unfamiliar position, but I wanted him so badly, that I didn't care. I wasn't even aware of him removing his boxers, but he must have done it very quickly, because I gasped as he was suddenly inside of me. I was so turned on from trying to resist him, that I really got into it. I moaned loudly, greatly enjoying every stroke that he made.

Vaughn grasped me by the waist, pulling me up to him. He reached around and rubbed me briskly, making my moaning get louder. "Mmm…do you like that?" he growled. I nodded, moaning. "Then say you like it," he grunted.

"I-I like it…" I whispered.

"Say it louder," he demanded. He thrust harder, and I hovered on the edge of my climax.

"I like it! Oh God, I love it! I love it when you fuck me!" I screamed as I came, overwhelmed with desire for him.

I heard him gasp in surprise, quickly followed by a deep groan, as he released powerfully. "Oh, Chelsea, Chelsea, oh God, Chelsea," he groaned over and over, still convulsing against me. He held me close to him for a moment, kissing at the back of my neck, and I sighed happily, totally satisfied.

We collapsed together side by side on the bed. He turned to me, stroking my face and looking into my eyes. "You are just full of surprises…" he whispered. I just smiled and snuggled closer to him.


	16. Out

Vaughn took wonderful care of the animals. I was especially delighted by the fact that he rode the horse all over the farm throughout the day. Not only was it great exercise for the horse, who had been a little bored under my care, but it was incredibly sexy to watch him galloping expertly around the farm. My little doggie, Chip, liked to run around after them, so he was getting exercise and fun out of it too.

Vaughn had used the east side of my farm as an outdoor animal area. He had built a fence, and divided the area up in four sections. There was a small, barren area that housed the chickens. Then there was a very large grassy area that housed all of the female animals, both sheep and cows. Vaughn explained that it was fine to pen them all together. They wouldn't bother each other. It was a different story with the male animals. So, the third area was a small grassy pen for the ram, and the final area was for the bull.

I did my farming on the west side of the farm. It was actually rather convenient, as it was closest to the water source. We were getting into the last days of summer, and I tended to my tomato and corn. My onions and pumpkins had already played out their time in the season, and had all been harvested and shipped.

One day, after dumping a basket of ears into the shipping bin, I caught a glimpse of some pretty wildflowers in the ram's pen. I walked over, glancing at the ram. He was turned away, kneeling down on the ground. I figured it was safe, and I hoisted myself over the fence. I recognized those flowers, and if I wasn't mistaken, they weren't just flowers.

I grabbed and tugged them by the roots out of the soil. I nodded. Sure enough, they were wild carrots. I lifted them in the air and shook them vigorously, shaking the dirt free. I became aware of a loud pounding noise behind me. I turned to look –

And that's all I remembered.

Pain. I was only aware of pain as I fluttered my eyes open. I groaned softly, reaching my hand up to shield my eyes from the light. I was surprised to feel something soft wrapped around my head. What was going on?

Suddenly Vaughn appeared in my field of vision, his face lined with worry. I heard another man's voice come from somewhere else. "Oh, she's awake?" the man said. Vaughn nodded silently, then kneeled down beside me, taking my hand and squeezing it.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his face still stricken.

"I don't know," I replied. "I'm not even sure what's going on." I tried to sit up, but grimaced with pain, and fell back on the bed. "I feel like I was hit by a truck."

"That's pretty close." The other man came into view then. He had short black hair, and kind eyes. His hands were rolling up a piece of gauze, and my mind stirred, telling me somehow that he was a doctor. "You got rammed by your ram, no pun intended. He knocked you over the fence, and your boyfriend here found you unconscious. I'm Dr. Trent, by the way. I'm here on vacation. Anyway, like I was saying, he brought you inside and then went to get Taro, who got me."

I nodded painfully, trying to absorb all this information. Dr. Trent cleared his throat. "I just need to do a few tests to check you for damage." He proceeded to make me follow a penlight with my eyes, and several other silly seeming tasks. When he was done, he nodded approvingly. "It might be too soon to say, but I think you'll be fine." He looked at Vaughn. "Just keep an eye on her. If she starts acting strangely, don't hesitate to call for me. I'm staying at the hotel."

Vaughn just nodded, mumbled "Thank you," and then Dr. Trent departed.

Vaughn turned back to me. He gazed at me, expressionless, as he stroked at my arm. He looked exhausted. He furrowed his brow. "What were you doing in the ram's pen, anyway?"

I struggled to think. "Oh…I saw some flowers in there."

Vaughn frowned. "You know better than that. The ram is really volatile. You should never have gone in there, especially not for such a silly reason!" He sounded angry, and I cringed.

I turned away from him slightly, and a tear rolled down my cheek. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "The ram was all the way over at the other side, and I thought he was sleeping. I thought it would be fine if I just went in for a second…" I trailed off as I started crying harder.

I heard Vaughn sigh, and he climbed in the bed next to me, wrapping his arms around me. "Don't cry, Chelsea. I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you." He kissed my temple. "You just don't know…what I felt like when I found you." I could feel him trembling, and I was surprised. He took a deep breath of air, and then continued. "I thought you were dead, and I felt like I was dying too. It was like the whole world suddenly got black." He hugged me tighter, nuzzling his face into my hair.

We lay there in silence. Then, I stirred and spoke. "Carrots."

Vaughn made a disgusted noise. "What about carrots?" he asked, lost.

I turned around to face him. "The flowers. They were wild carrots, and I wanted to pull them up."

Vaughn closed his eyes and shook his head. "I told you that carrots weren't worth a damn." That made me giggle, and I moved in closer and kissed him. I winced with pain, and he pulled away. "What's wrong?" I just shook my head, and he continued. "Should I go get the doctor?" He made a movement to rise, but I stopped him.

"I'm okay," I said softly. "I just want to rest for a little while." Vaughn nodded and got out of the bed, then smoothed out the covers and made sure I was comfortable. I drifted off to sleep.

When I awoke, it was just past sunset. My eyes slowly opened, and in the dim light, I could see that Vaughn was sitting by the bed, watching me. He smiled as I opened my eyes. "Hey, sleepy head," he grunted.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Vaughn went to answer it, opening the door to reveal Taro standing there with a small carton. "Good evening, good evening," he said, bustling inside and raising the box up to Vaughn. "That's dinner, courtesy of Felicia. I figgered that you weren't much of a cook, and the little missy here needs to rest and not be banging pots and pans around." Taro made his way over to me. "And how is the little missy doing?"

I smiled weakly. "I'm fine, Taro."

"Goddess be praised, Goddess be praised! I was really worried there for a while, sure was, I sure was. I knew you had to be hurt something bad for a cowboy to be bawling his eyes out like that." I widened my eyes, and I heard Vaughn give an embarrassed cough. "But at any rate, it was a good thing that Dr. Trent was on vacation here. Yes it was. We really need to get ourselves our own doctor here, yessirree, we do. Now, what could we do to get a doctor to come live here?" He excused himself, mumbling and lost in thought.

Vaughn avoided my gaze. I was still in shock. "You… you were crying?" I asked, unbelieving.

He cleared his throat, turning away. "That old man's just exaggerating."

Still, I smiled a little to myself. I was happy to know that he cared about me that much.


	17. Healing

Author's Note: Thanks, everyone, for the great reviews. Yes, I do write rather quickly, because I enjoy writing this. I actually reread my own stuff for entertainment (is that vain?) so I like to churn stories out rather rapidly.

I've had more than one person comment on my "realistic lemons." I'm a little confused as to if people are being sarcastic or not. I know my characters always seem to have perfect sex, ie can finish simultaneously, and the girl has no trouble finishing. I know that might seem UNrealistic to some people, but personally (this is probably way TMI) that's the way my sex life with my husband is, so it's possible. Sex isn't always a 2 hour marathon with a dozen different positions. Sometimes when a couple really is right for each other, it's always quick and satisfying. But anyway, maybe you guys weren't being sarcastic. In that case, um, you're welcome I guess. ;; On with the chapter!

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Later that night, Vaughn drew me a bath and urged me to get in and soak. He said that Dr. Trent suggested it, to ease my sore muscles. He kneeled by the side of the tub, rubbing my back gently with the washcloth. I just closed my eyes, leaning forward against my knees, and felt very thankful that I had such a caring boyfriend.

The next morning, I actually woke up before Vaughn did. Since I had been sleeping on and off all day, I had already met my sleep quota, apparently. Vaughn always seemed to need a lot less sleep than me, so the usual thing was that he was up and out before I even opened my eyes in the morning.

The sun was just coming up, and I turned over to look at him sleeping in the dim light. I smiled. He was sleeping on his stomach, his face turned towards me. His silvery hair was rumpled, sticking up in places. He breathed heavily out of his nose, reminding me a little of a sleeping horse. I looked down to his body. He was so tall, that he slept a little diagonally in the bed so that he would fit without having to bend his legs. He had the covers kicked off, and as usual, wore nothing but a pair of boxers. I thought it was ironic that he wore such heavy, dark clothing all day, even out in the heat, without a complaint, but at night he chose to wear very little. Not even a T-shirt.

I admired his lean physique, reaching out and stroking his long back gently. His eyebrows lowered, and he grumbled a little in his sleep. He cracked one eye open and looked out with annoyance, which melted away when he saw me. A little wisp of a smile curled the edge of his lips. I just smiled back at him. "Good morning," I whispered.

"Good morning," he grunted in return. He yawned and stretched, then turned on his side towards me. "How do you feel?"

"I still hurt all over," I replied. "But my head doesn't ache as badly any more."

He nodded, pulling me in close and resting his chin on the top of my head. "Good," he said simply. He held me for a little while longer, then released me, rolling onto his back. "Well, I guess it's time to get up."

My attention was drawn to his boxers. He was visibly aroused. I stared at it with my mouth open, and his eyes followed my gaze down to it as well. "Oh, that?" he shrugged. "It's always like that in the morning." I silently vowed to myself to start getting up earlier. I just kept staring, and he smiled, dropping his hand to stroke at it lightly. "Why, do you want some…?"

I just nodded mutely, and he didn't hesitate to roll on top of me and begin kissing at my neck. He started to grind against me, and I moaned happily. He pulled away for just a moment. "Are you sure that you're up for this?"

I nodded. "Maybe it will make me feel a little better?" He just groaned and went back to grinding at me. He brought his hands to my hips and peeled my panties off, then pulled his own boxers off as well. He parted my thighs with his hands, and pushed himself inside of me. We rocked together, our pleasurable sighs and moans the only sound in the quiet morning. I rolled my eyes back in my head, grabbing at his back. It felt so amazing, that all my pain was being washed away.

I wrapped my thighs around his waist, pulling him in close to me. The weight of him pressing on me combined with the friction of his movements brought me to an easy and satisfying climax. I moaned his name softly over and over in ecstasy, which drove him over the edge, making him thrust furiously into me until he found his own release just moments later. He cried out in pleasure as he spilled inside of me, and planted kisses all over my neck. "Oh, Chelsea, I love you," he groaned.

"I love you, Vaughn," I whispered into his ear as he still trembled against me. We relaxed together for a while, then he brought himself off of me.

"I have to go see to the animals," he said, as he stood up and pulled on his boxers. "It might rain today, so I need to get them inside before it starts." He leaned down to me, brushing my hair out of my face. "Oh, Chelsea, you're so perfect," he whispered, leaning in deeper to kiss me, and I blushed, extremely flattered. He pulled away with a wistful look on his face, and resumed dressing himself for the day. He headed out into the fields.

Later in the day, Dr. Trent dropped by to check on me, and while he agreed that I seemed to be doing better, he cautioned me against overexerting myself. I smiled to myself, wondering if what we did this morning fell under "overexertion" or not.

Luckily, it was a rainy day after all, so my crops didn't need watering. Vaughn was busy with herding the animals in out of the steadily increasing downpour, and then getting them fed inside. I sat up in bed, feeling a little bored. I watched the rain pelt against the window.

The door swung open suddenly, and Natalie stepped in from outside, shaking the rain off herself. She came forward to me. "Sorry about not knocking, but I saw Rodeo Boy stomping around in the rain out there, and I knew it was safe to come in. I don't want to walk in on him lassoing you or something."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Natalie sat down on the edge of the bed, her sarcastic demeanor softening. "How ya doing?" she asked, looking concerned.

I gave a little nod. "I'm all right."

She shivered. "That was really scary, everything that went down yesterday. I'm really glad you're okay."

I nodded. "It was my own dumb fault. I saw some wild carrots growing in the ram's pen, and I stupidly went in to get them. The ram was just being a ram."

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "So that's what that was all about."

I was puzzled. "What, you didn't know I got attacked by the ram?"

She shook her head. "I knew that. Grandpa told me. But yesterday evening, I saw Vaughn leading the ram out to the beach. I saw him later coming back, and he didn't have the ram with him."

I decided to ask Vaughn about it when he came inside. "Vaughn…what happened to Rammy?"

Vaughn sighed. "I sold him back to the trader's company."

My eyes widened. "Why? Because he attacked me? But he's just an animal. I shouldn't have gotten in his pen."

Vaughn nodded. "I know that. But I also knew that I wouldn't be able to treat him the same anymore, knowing that he had hurt you. So, whether it was his nature or not, I couldn't keep him any more."

I looked down, feeling guilty. "It's all my fault…"

He sat down on the bed. "No, it's all right, Chelsea. All four ewes are pregnant, so we don't really need a ram right now. We can get another one later, or maybe one of the lambs will be male. It doesn't really matter right now." He stroked at my face. "I'm just happy that you're okay."

He changed the subject, smirking a little. "Rammy…what an obvious name for a ram. You really have a knack for naming animals, Chelsea." I pouted. "Moomoo the cow, Woolly the sheep, Cheeps the chicken. I find it hard to keep a straight face having to call them by those goofy ass names." He burst out into laughter, something he didn't do very often. "Here, Moomoo!" he called out in a falsetto voice. It was so unexpected, that it caught me off guard and I burst into laughter as well. I laughed until my sides hurt, and he laughed even harder, watching me lose it.

I gasped for breath. "Well, rename them if it's so bad!"

He shook his head. "Naw, I like your goofy ass names. It gives me something to tease you about."

I huffed. "Well, you're lucky the horse just ended up being called 'Ree." Natalie wanted me to call it - "

Vaughn groaned, cutting me off. "Oh, I can only guess." He smirked. "Vaughn, right?"

I nodded, covering my mouth as I started laughing again. He just rolled his eyes and laughed with me.


	18. Fireworks

Chapter 18

The next day, my body was no longer sore. Dr. Trent checked me out one final time and pronounced me completely healthy, which was a relief. Natalie joked that I couldn't afford any brain damage, since I didn't have much brains as it was. I told her that she was thinking about herself.

There was going to be a fireworks festival that evening. Vaughn was reluctantly to go initially. "Waste of time," he grunted. "It's so pointless. And what's worse, everyone always crowds around and acts so foolish. It gets on my nerves."

I pleaded with him. "But I like watching fireworks. They're so romantic." Vaughn rolled his eyes, but he finally gave in, and we went.

Pierre had set up a stand where he was cooking baked corn with Natalie's help. I already knew about it, because I provided the corn. Natalie pulled me by the elbow to talk at the side of the stand. "Have I got some news…" she said, her eyes sparkling.

"What? Pierre hit puberty?" I asked sarcastically, and she shoved me.

"No," she said, rolling her eyes. "Okay, you know how that pop star Lanna's house is across from Pierre's? Well…when I was leaving last night, I saw Denny going in. Then when I went back to Pierre's house early this morning, so we could start prepping the corn, I saw Denny again. Leaving. In the same clothes he had on yesterday!"

I shrugged. "Big deal. He wears the same clothes every day anyway, haven't you noticed? And everybody knows they're going out. Man, going out with a little kid has lowered your idea of what a scandal is!"

Natalie just stuck her tongue out at me, and then grimaced. "I know, I know. I'm the ONLY girl in town who isn't getting laid!" She got a little loud as she said this, and Pierre looked over with a strange look on his face. I stifled a giggled and then slipped away before I had to get involved in their mess.

I went back to find Vaughn. He was standing around with Mirabelle and Julia, looked bored and miserable. "Can we go home now?" he asked. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head, and he sighed heavily.

The fireworks finally started. Vaughn and I stood side by side, watching the brilliant colors explode across the sky. He slowly reached out and wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me in next to him. "I guess it's pretty nice watching fireworks with you," he said. I smiled, resting my head on his side.

We went back to the house. As soon as we were inside, Vaughn leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. His hands went to the back of my bandanna, untying it and then sliding it off my head. He ran his fingers through my hair as his kiss became more insistent. I parted my lips, and his tongue slipped into my mouth. Our tongues danced together as he squeezed at my shoulders, and I raked my fingernails lightly across his back. I broke away from the kiss momentarily to lead him by the hand to the bed.

I sat down on it, and he sat next to me, throwing his hat aside. He leaned back in for another kiss, and I reached around his neck, working the knot at the back of his bandanna loose. I finally got it undone and pulled it off. Then my hands started to work at the buttons of his shirt. My heart was beating hard as pleasurable anticipation began to stir inside me. Vaughn brought his hand over one breast and caressed it gently through my shirt. I hummed happily into his mouth as I got the last of the buttons undone. Pushing his shirt back, I came away from his mouth to kiss at his bare chest. I heard him give a little sigh, and I kissed a trail down to his stomach. He began to groan then, obviously aware of where I was going.

I traced my fingers over his already apparent hardness through the jeans. I touched him gently with one fingertip at first, then rubbed him with more pressure with my whole hand, squeezing at it through the thick material as it got even harder. My hands went to his belt, unbuckling it, and then moving it back far enough that I could unbutton and unzip his jeans. He helped me ease them down over his hips. I kissed at him through his boxers, and he moaned, leaning back on his elbows. I tugged at the waistband of his boxers, freeing his hardness, and then I brought my lips to it. I planted dozens of soft, fluttery kisses along the length, making him groan. Then I let my tongue creep out, and moved the tip of my tongue ever so lightly over his skin. I kept my touch light and feathery with both my tongue and my fingers.

He whined with desire as I teased him. "God, Chelsea, you drive me so crazy…" he managed to say brokenly.

"Mmmm…" was my only response as I covered the tip with my mouth. He groaned in delight, and I sucked lightly at him. I swirled my tongue around it, then brought my mouth a little further down. He brought his hands to my hair, tangling his fingers in it, but he didn't push down on my head. I moved even further down, sliding my lips over him.

He continued to grunt and groan with pleasure. I loved every sound that he made, and I grew steadily wetter. My free hand went between my legs, touching there. I slid my hand down the front of my jeans and into my panties, wanting to feel for myself how wet he was making me. Even in the semi darkness, he could tell what I was doing. "Oh, God, Chelsea, you're fucking killing me!" he groaned out, gritting his teeth and breathing harshly. I just sucked harder at him as I touched myself, getting more and more worked up.

He suddenly pulled me up roughly by my shoulders and pushed me back on the bed. He yanked his jeans off the rest of the way, and then did the same to my shorts. He quickly brought his face in between my legs, kissing at me through my damp panties. He flicked his tongue across the inside of each thigh, making me cry out with desire, and then he pulled my panties off. His mouth returned to me, his tongue moving in a frenzy of passion. "I love the way you taste," he grunted, and I arched my back in ecstasy.

"Oh, Vaughn, I want you inside of me now!" I cried out, and he complied with a lustful groan, nestling his hips between mine and thrusting himself inside of me. I screamed happily, wrapping my arms around him as he moved back and forth. We sighed and moaned, moving together, savoring the feeling.

With one fluid movement, I was on top of him. I pressed furiously against him, tightening up my muscles as I worked myself closer and closer to climax. I heard him groan and hiss, and then he cried out, "Oh, Chelsea, Chelsea!" as he released powerfully, his hips convulsing up into me. The force of his movements and the idea that I had pulled it out of him made me explode with pleasure, and I began to climax as he finished his. He grasped at my hips, pulling me against him and shutting his eyes tightly as he seemingly enjoyed the feeling of it greatly. As my body relaxed, I brought myself down to his chest and rested there.

After a while, I moved off of him and lay next to him in the bed. "See, I told you fireworks are romantic," I whispered as I cuddled up next to him. He just chuckled, wrapping his arm around me, and kissed the top of my head.


	19. Autumn

Chapter 19

Summer was coming to a close. The theme for this year's summer crop festival was corn. I harvested the corn the day before, and was delighted at the quality of it. However, on the day of the festival, the silk inside the ears had browned slightly, and they just didn't look as good. I entered nonetheless, but ended up losing to some blonde farmer from Mineral Town.

"Can't win 'em all," Vaughn said, patting me on the back after I came back from the judging area. I sadly nodded.

Fall soon settled on the valley. I planted a variety of crops, including eggplants, yams, and spinach. I had initially wanted to refrain from growing carrots this year, since Vaughn hated them so badly. But he pointed out that it was good for the soil to grow a variety of crops, and our horse liked to eat them.

I tilted my head at him. "Is that why you don't like carrots? Because of the horse jokes?"

He shook his head. "No, they are just horrible tasting. I can't stand even the smell of them cooking." He shuddered at the thought. "Revolting," he grunted.

About a week later, it was the day of the Harvest Festival. I had just finished watering the eggplants. The other crops needed even less water, so I wasn't watering them today. Vaughn had already checked all the animals, and he rode up next to me on Ree. "Want to go for a ride?" he asked. I nodded, and he helped me climb onto the horse's back, behind him.

We galloped off, on our way to the festival. I squealed happily, holding onto him around the waist tightly, for fear of falling off. Vaughn steered the horse towards the east side of town. As we got closer to the corner where Pierre's house was, I saw him and Natalie standing outside. I tapped at Vaughn's back, and he got my message, slowing Ree down to a trot and coming up alongside the couple.

Pierre eyed the horse nervously. "Oh my, what a big horse."

I laughed. "Don't worry, he's not going to eat you."

Natalie smirked. "Rodeo Boy, that's so mean of you to make your twin brother carry you around town."

Vaughn groaned at the stupid joke. "I knew it was a bad idea to stop and let you say something," he grunted, and then spurred Ree to gallop away. I stuck my tongue out at Natalie, and yelled, "You need to get laid!" at her as we departed. She looked after us, scowling, and Pierre just looked sweaty and uncomfortable.

I kissed Vaughn on the back. "I'm sorry she's so rude."

He just snorted. "I'm used to her by now." We continued galloping to the meadow. When we got there, we tied Ree up to a tree and joined the rest of the villagers. I saw Natalie skulk across the bridge not long after, dragging Pierre by the hand. She made an ugly face at me, and I just shrugged. Vaughn noticed this silent exchange, and commented, "Well, if she wants to dish it out, then she needs to be able to take it." I nodded.

Then I realized something. "Oh, Vaughn, I forgot to bring something to put in the pot!" I pouted. "It's silly having this festival so early into the season. None of my crops are ripe yet."

Vaughn took me over to Ree and reached into his saddlebags. He triumphantly emerged with a shiitake mushroom. "This'll do," he said, handing it to me. We went over to Felicia and handed it over. She stirred it into the pot with the rest of the ingredients.

Vaughn folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not sure I like the idea of this festival. People can just put whatever they want in there."

I mused this. "Well, at least Felicia is monitoring what ingredients go in. It's not like someone would throw something poisonous in, anyway."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Vaughn made a disgusted face and pointed, and I looked back at Felicia. She was accepting a big bunch of carrots from a townsperson. Vaughn grunted. "I'm not eating."

I shook my head at him. "It's a huge pot. You probably won't even get any carrot in yours."

He scowled. "It's too big of a risk. Besides, the broth is going to be all orange and tainted because of it. I'm not eating any."

I just sighed.

At the cow festival several days later, Moomoo took the top prize. I was delighted, kissing and thanking Vaughn, because I knew it was his special attention that molded the cow into such a prize specimen. It was strange, because it seemed like Moomoo knew that she was a prize cow now. She started giving more milk, which of course was wonderful.

I was watering in the fields a few days later when I got the wind knocked out of me as someone tackled me from behind. I cried out, struggling to turn around and see who it was. It was Natalie, and she looked insanely gleeful.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled at her. "What's wrong with you? You've got crazy eyes!"

"Crazy in love!" she chirped as I stood up, brushing the soil off my legs. She advanced on me, gripping me by the shoulders and getting right up in my face. I was terrified beyond belief as she hissed at me, "We did it."

"Huh?" That was the last thing I thought she would say.

She nodded over and over. "Okay, so here's how it went down," she began, as she urged me to sit with her on a nearby boulder. "I was at Pierre's house last night. I was trying to explain to him what I wanted, but I wasn't getting through to him. So, I realized I needed to start speaking his language. I explained to him that we were like two fine ingredients on our own, but the only way to make us into a truly delicious recipe was to combine us. It was like a light went off in his cute little head, and he just pounced on me! So then…"

What followed was thirty minutes of way too graphic descriptions of everything they did. Everything. Absolutely everything. Very graphic. I struggled to keep an interested smile plastered on my face, because honestly, it was really nasty. But, I was extremely happy for her.

"You seem like you had a really good time," I managed to say. She hadn't stopped smiling for a second since she got there. Vaughn rode up on the horse just then. He saw Natalie and rolled his eyes, starting to turn the horse around, but Natalie just waved cheerfully.

"Hi, Vaughn!" She stood up and petted the horse on the head as Vaughn paused, stunned by her friendly behavior. "Well, I'd better get back home and help my mom with some stuff. See you!" She skipped off happily.

Vaughn watched her go with his mouth open. "Was that…was that really Natalie? She actually called me by my name, not 'Rodeo Boy' or 'Cowboy' or 'Horseface.' What's wrong with her?"

I stood up. "Actually, it's what's right with her. She and Pierre finally did it."

Vaughn just grunted. "Good for them, I guess. Well, if it makes her stop being such a bitch, it's fine by me." That made me giggle. I should have gotten mad that my boyfriend was calling my best friend a bitch, but honestly, she had been one for some time. I could only hope that her nice behavior would continue.

Surprisingly, it did. And strangely enough, Pierre somehow looked more grown up now. I snorted to myself that Natalie must have forced him to go through puberty. The two of them were so lovey dovey every where around town, that it was almost sickening. I was grateful at least for the fact that Pierre had his own house, so they had somewhere to retreat to when they felt frisky. I didn't think I could handle stumbling over the two of them pawing on each other behind a rock.

I entered and won the fall crop festival with my best yam. As I had done the year before, I gave the winning crop to Pierre. This time, instead of hugging it, he leaned over to Natalie and whispered something that made her giggle, and then they hurried off hand in hand. I crinkled my nose, thankful that I was unable to imagine what they were going to do with that yam.


	20. Winter

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Winter

Winter came to the island with a flurry of snow. One cold morning, we snuggled in bed for a little while as the snow fell down steadily outside. "I'm so glad you're here this winter. It was so lonely last year," I whispered toVaughn. He just nodded, kissing the top of my head.

I didn't have much to do around the farm, since there were no crops to tend to, and Vaughn was taking care of the animals. So, if it wasn't too cold, I'd go fishing. When it was too cold, I either went to visit Natalie or stayed inside and worked on my cooking. As a result of this, I found that I was becoming quite the cook. It wasn't always the best, but I was learning so many new recipes. Vaughn would just raise an eyebrow at some of the more strange ones, but he ate everything without complaint. Of course, I never made anything with carrots in it.

Until one day. I had a recipe for veloute sauce, which required me to make vegetable broth to start. I rummaged in the fridge, but the only veggie I had on hand that would work was onion, and I knew it would be overpoweringly onion flavored if I used just that. So, I peeked out the window to make sure Vaughn was still out in the fields, and I hurriedly peeled and chopped two carrots, throwing them into the pot to simmer with the onion. I kept peeking outside to see if Vaughn was coming into the house, because I knew if he did, I'd probably be busted. The carrots smelled wonderful bubbling in the pot with the onion, but I knew he wouldn't agree.

Luckily, he stayed away the whole time I was cooking. I strained the boiled vegetables, reserving the broth, and then I ate them to hide the evidence. I continued with the recipe, whisking flour into the vegetable broth to thicken it up. I served it that night over grilled fish. Nibbling at my food, I kept a nervous eye on Vaughn, to see if he would notice. He seemed to be fine with it, until suddenly he made a noise and dropped his fork.

"There's…something orange in this," he said slowly.

I widened my eyes, trying to look innocent. "There shouldn't be…" Technically, I wasn't lying, because the carrot shouldn't be visible if I had drained it properly. He picked up his fork and held the offending particle out to me. Sure enough, there was a tiny fleck of carrot there.

I decided to tell a bold faced lie. "I had steamed carrots for lunch, and I used the same pot to cook the sauce. I must not have washed it well enough."

He grimaced. "I thought I could smell the stench of carrots in here." I sweated nervously, feeling guilty. His face softened. "But, hey, I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't eat. You can eat all the carrots you want. Just make sure I don't get any." I sighed quietly with relief, and the matter passed without any more incident.

Winter passed slowly. There were a few festivals, but they weren't that great. We made a snowman together on Snow Day, which was fun, but I just got sick of the snow and the cold pretty quickly.

Starry Night was fast approaching. Vaughn started to act strangely in the days before it. It would be our first Starry Night that we actually spent together. I knew that overly romantic stuff made him uncomfortable, so I tried not to make that big of a deal about it.

The day before, I casually said, "I'm going to make some special dishes for dinner tomorrow night. Is there any dessert in particular that you want?"

He seemed distracted, and just grunted. I started to worry that I did something wrong, or maybe he didn't want to celebrate it at all. Still, he hadn't explicitly said that he didn't want to celebrate, so the next day, I made a special meal as planned. As I was finishing up the preparations, he came in from outside. He shook the snow off of himself, and headed for the shower, avoiding my gaze. Now I was really worried. Well, then, I just wouldn't call this Starry Night. I just made some special food, that's all.

He came out of the shower not long after. My attention was focused in the kitchen, but I could hear him rustling around near the bed, getting dressed. I heard the chair scrape back, and I turned around to see him seated at the table. He was looking down, and it actually looked like he was blushing. Hmm, I thought. Maybe he feels guilty for acting all grumpy about the festival.

I carried the platter of food to the table and set it down. "Happy Starry Night," I blurted out. Ooops, I had intended to not mention it. Oh well, what's said is said, I reasoned with myself. He just nodded, still looking down.

We ate in silence for sometime. It started to gnaw at me though, so I set down my fork and started to speak.

"Vaughn-" I began.

"Chelsea-" he uttered at the same time. We both looked at each other, and he motioned at me. "Go ahead," he grunted, his voice a little shaky.

I furrowed my brow. "Is something wrong? You seem like you don't want to celebrate tonight…and it's just that last year, when we couldn't be together, you sent me that note that said you wanted to be spending it with me." I looked down at my plate. "I'm just a little confused…do you not feel that way any more?"

Vaughn made a strange little noise, and I looked up. His face was flushed, and his eyes darted around. "No, I do want to spend tonight with you!" He scratched the back of his head, his face sheepish. "I'm sorry; I'm just a little distracted."

I accepted this explanation, and we continued with the meal. After it was over, I cleared away the dishes, and then I smiled at Vaughn. "Okay, close your eyes, and don't open them until I say so, okay?" He did as I asked, and I went to my secret hiding place, one of my dresser drawers. I pulled out a large, clumsily wrapped box and then returned to Vaughn, sitting next to him on the couch. "Okay, open them," I instructed, and he slowly opened his eyes. His gaze fell on the box, and he chuckled softly. "Don't laugh at how badly it's wrapped!" I pouted. As he tore at the paper, I picked at my sleeve nervously. "I hope you don't think it's stupid. I just wanted to get you a present."

Inside the box was a men's bathrobe. He gave me a little smile, and I blushed. "You know, because you walk around the house in nothing but your boxers. Wh-which is fine, of course, but in case you ever wanted to cover up." He set it aside and gave me a little kiss. Then his face clouded over again. "Oh, don't worry if you didn't get me anything," I hastily said. "I didn't expect anything, so it's okay."

Vaughn cleared his throat. "No, I did get you something." He took a deep breath, and my heart fluttered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, blue box, which he handed to me with a shaky hand. "Open it," he whispered, and I suddenly felt dizzy. I swallowed hard and bit my lip, then opened the box on its hinges.

Inside was a diamond ring. I looked up at him, and tears sprang to my eyes. "Oh, Vaughn, is this…?"

He gave a little nod. "Marry me." I threw my arms around his neck, sobbing happily into his shoulder.

He stroked the back of my hair. "So that's a yes?"

I pulled away and looked up at him, nodding. I took the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. It fit perfectly. Tears came to my eyes again as I looked down at it.

"Hey, now, don't cry," Vaughn said, brushing my tears away. "It won't be that bad to marry me."

I choked a little on my laugh. "No, silly, I'm happy." I kissed him softly, and then he picked me up, carrying me to the bed, where we celebrated.

The next day, after we ate breakfast, I kissed him goodbye as he headed out to tend to the animals, and tore off to Natalie's house. I barreled through the front door and into the bedroom. She looked up from the book she was reading, startled. "What the…" she began, but I cut her off, telling her the good news. She squealed, happy for me, and we excitedly discussed it.

Afterwards, I returned home to Vaughn. He was just coming in from the barn, and he placed a bottle of milk in the refrigerator. He cleared his throat and said, "I'd like to tell Mirabelle and Julia. Can you come along?" I nodded in agreement, and we headed out together.

At the animal shop, the two women were as shocked as could be at the news. Julia said, "Wow! Vaughn, I just can't believe you're getting married! I had pegged you as a lifelong bachelor!"

Vaughn shrugged, and then said, "I know. I can't believe it either. And I want you guys to be there when we get married. You're the only family I have left."

Julia's eyes twinkled. "Don't forget Chelsea. She's your family, now." He chuckled and nodded, squeezing my hand.

Mirabelle said, "You're actually showing some emotion, Vaughn! She must be a good influence!" She laughed, full of mirth. "I always knew you had a good heart. Though I know you do your best to hide it!"

Vaughn pulled his hat lower on his head, and Julia piped up. "Like that. Always pulling your hat down over your face to hide your eyes."

Mirabelle continued, "But I'm so happy that you finally found a nice girl who can see past that gruff attitude you work so hard on." Vaughn cleared his throat. Mirabelle waggled her finger at him. "Don't look so surprised, Vaughn! You're not that good at hiding your emotions!"

Vaughn blushed, and began to stutter. "I...I...um..."

Julia laughed. "Ha! I think you actually embarrassed him, Mom!"

Vaughn continued to blush and stutter, "Uh...Um..."

Julia nodded approvingly. "I like this new emotional Vaughn. You turned him into a human being!" she said, turning to me. "So when is the ceremony, you two?" she questioned.

Vaughn managed to compose himself, clearing his throat, "In a week."

Mirabelle clapped her hands, her face red and jolly. "That's wonderful! I can't wait! Congratulations, you two!" We left the animal shop hand in hand.

The rest was quickly arranged. We were to be married on the beach, at sunset, in a week. Vaughn had chuckled, pulling his hat down as he said, "It's where we had our first kiss, after all." I blushed, remembering him kissing me after I slapped him. So, this had all begun with a slap. I closed my eyes and smiled, shaking my head. Who would have imagined it?


	21. Married Life

Author's Note: I know everyone thought that I intended to end the story with the last chapter, because I guess I wrapped it up a little too well. Anyway, it wasn't the ending. Chapters may not come as quickly now, but they will come. And so will Chelsea and Vaughn...ha ha, I made a joke. :)

Chapter 21

The week leading up to the wedding was a blur. The ceremony itself was also over before I knew it. I finally became aware of what was going on as Vaughn hoisted me up in his arms and carried me across the threshold of our house.

He placed me down gently on the bed, and began working at the zipper on my dress. Yes, that was just like him. Already focusing on what comes after the wedding. Not that I minded! I sighed happily as he helped me wiggle out of my dress, then I laid back on the bed. He removed his wedding attire as quickly as possible, and then he was on me, kissing at my neck.

"Are you glad that we're married?" I asked him.

"Very," he answered between kisses. "We truly belong to each other now."

"Mmmm…" I replied happily, as his lips worked their way down. His fingers hooked into my white, lacy panties and pulled them off expertly. He swept his fingertips back up over my thighs, bringing them to the skin he had exposed. I moaned as he touched me softly, then with increasing pressure. The sudden sensation of his mouth on me made me gasp in pleasurable surprise, and I melted even further back into the sheets.

Once he had gotten me worked up past the point of no return, I was begging and pleading him to take me. He brought himself directly over me, a contended half smile on his face, and eased himself inside of me. I cried out in ecstasy as he moved against me. His lips found my neck, and each kiss felt hot and full of desire. "Oh, Chelsea, I could never live without you," he whispered in my ear, and those words were what pushed me over the edge. My body tensed for a moment as waves of pleasure exploded inside of me, making me scream out his name over and over again. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he gripped me by my hips, pulling me into him and obviously savoring every second of it. As I was feeling the last aftershocks of my climax, I heard a low groan start to emanate from him, and he suddenly pulled me harder against him, growling out my name as he released inside of me. Feeling his intense pleasure just lengthened my own enjoyment, and I held him close to me as he gasped for air afterwards.

I brushed his silvery hair out of his eyes, gazing up into them. "I love you, Vaughn," I whispered to him.

"I love you too, Chelsea. So much that I can't even believe it," he whispered back. He carefully moved off me and laid beside me, wrapping his arms around me and bringing me in close. We fell asleep completely contented.

The next morning, I heard a light rapping at the door. Curiously, I went to answer it. It was Natalie and Taro. "Good morning to the happy couple, good morning!" Taro shouted in his crackling old voice.

Natalie's eyes twinkled at me. "Have we got a surprise for you."

I couldn't imagine what it could be, so I just waited. Taro beamed. "We're gonna take care of the farm for you two. You're going on a honeymoon!"

"What?" I couldn't believe my ears. Vaughn appeared behind me in the doorway, thankfully wearing the robe that I got him for Starry Night. I looked up at him happily, and he just smiled and shrugged.

Taro nodded over and over. "Yes, don't worry about a thing. We'll take care of all of it. And we've already got your honeymoon arranged. You'll be spending a week in Mineral Town."

I was ecstatic, because I'd never really been on vacation before. This would be such a treat, and especially to be able to go with Vaughn. Taro explained the plans to me, and we hastily packed our bags. Natalie took me aside to tell me that Taro had wanted to come tell us last night, and she tried to stop him, but they made it to the front door. "Good thing Grandpa's half deaf, so he didn't hear you screaming. I figured you were either celebrating your marriage or getting murdered, and I didn't want to walk in on either one, so I made up some excuse why we should wait until the morning. Luckily he believed me and we left."

I rolled my eyes, thanking her for sparing us the interruption. "Because, obviously, it wasn't that I was getting murdered," I giggled.

Natalie cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know…you sounded like you were getting stabbed hard with something!" We both started giggling, making Taro and Vaughn look at us like we were crazy. I covered my mouth and returned to packing.

Since we had been married on the first day of spring, I hadn't even planted anything yet. Taro assured me that he already had seeds ready, and they would enjoy planting them and tending to them for me. Vaughn was a little reluctant to leave the animals for so long, but Taro assured him that they could handle it, and that they could always call on Mirabelle if there was a crisis. Vaughn finally consented, and we caught the ferry at the beach.

It carried us to Mineral Town's beach, where I gingerly stepped onto the sand. Everything looked so new and different, and it was a refreshing change of scenery. Their local shipper, a burly man, showed us the way to the inn, and we checked in at the bar with the red headed owner. His daughter showed us where our room was, and Vaughn set the bags on the floor. He took one look at the single beds and laughed, "I don't think so…" then pushed them together. When he finished, he turned around and took me in his arms. "I don't ever want to have to sleep alone again." I just smiled as he kissed me softly.

I looked up at him mischievously. "Want to test it out?" He replied in the affirmative by pushing me back onto the bed. We kissed and moved against each other, his hands wandering everywhere on my body. Before I knew it, he had undressed me completely, and was working on his own clothes. Feeling frisky, I managed to get him on his back, and I kissed him all over his bare skin. He just groaned, tilting his hips up at me to show me what he wanted. I was happy to comply, bringing my small hands around his hardness and taking it into my mouth. I teased him for a while, rubbing him lightly with my hands and tongue, then gave him the pressure that he wanted. I pulled away when I could tell he was getting close, and he rose up with a growl, grabbing me by the waist and turning me away.

He parted my thighs with one hand, and pressed himself into my wetness with a deep groan. I sighed happily as he thrust in and out of me. After a little while, his hand found my hand and brought it between my legs. I blushed as I got his hint, and I began touching myself. He groaned with pleasure. His thrusting seemed to become even more enthusiastic as I hummed and whimpered softly under my own touch. "God, Chelsea, you are so sexy," he growled in my ear, and I got a pleasurable chill throughout my whole body.

I could feel myself getting closer and closer, so I bent at the waist and brought my shoulders down to the bed, propping myself on one forearm and rubbing myself frantically with the other hand. Vaughn bent as well, layering himself over my back, groaning in anticipation. My breathing became shrill and harsh as I felt myself getting to the brink, and then I pressed my face into the pillow and screamed over and over again in intense joy as I climaxed. I could feel Vaughn shuddering as he pressed deeply inside of me, and I knew he was climaxing too.

We parted a few moments later. I was trembling hard, overcome by the intensity of my climax. He pulled me into him, and I kissed at his chest, almost in a daze with how wonderful I felt. He kissed the top of my head, and whispered, "I like this new bed." I just nodded happily.


	22. Hot

The next morning, I stirred in the bed and stretched. Vaughn was behind me, his arm draped over my waist. I felt lazy and didn't want to get up yet. I just sighed happily and relaxed into the bed. We were both sleeping in the nude., because it just seemed such a waste of time to get dressed.

Vaughn surprised me by raising his hand and letting it fall back down on my ass with a sharp swat. I yelped, then I sighed. "Ooh, do it again." I heard him chuckle deeply, and he repeated the action, then stayed still. "Do it again," I urged, and he continued. He paused after a few, waiting to see if I wanted more, and of course I kept begging for it, moaning each time.

I felt his hardness pressing into my thigh, and I could tell it was arousing to him. He suddenly stopped, pulling me onto my back by my hip as he moved over me. His hand went between my legs. "Mmm, you really liked that, didn't you? You're so wet," he growled. I murmured a yes, and he thrust himself inside of me, giving a low groan as he did so.

I locked my legs around his waist, pulling him in close and grinding myself against him. I tilted my hips up at him, savoring the slippery friction, and I moaned deeply as I built up. Vaughn thrust more furiously against me, and I clawed at his back as I climaxed. He groaned as he released as well.

We rolled apart, and he turned his head to smirk at me. "Damn, you're a little firecracker. First you beg me to spank you, then you tear the shit out of my back with your nails!"

I blushed. "Did I hurt you?" He rolled away slightly, letting me see his shoulder. I yelped out when I saw the deep red scratches there. One thin line was actually seeping a little blood. "Oh, no! I actually did that? It looks like you were mauled by a wild dog!" He rolled back to me, giving a little half smile.

"It doesn't really hurt."

Still, I pouted, feeling bad that I injured him in the heat of the moment. "I'm sorry! I'll try to be more careful from now on," I promised, still feeling a little embarrassed.

A few hours later, taken turns going down on each other in the shower, eaten breakfast, came back upstairs and had sex again, taken a short nap, and had sex yet again, we lay panting and sweating on the bed.

"I think I'm done," I wheezed. "I can't take anymore."

Vaughn sighed. "Yeah, we better take a rest from this. I don't want to tear you up. 'Cause you already tore me up," he smirked, turning his injured shoulder towards me.

"I told you I was sorry!" I pouted, and he kissed me.

"It's okay, honey. Well, let's get some clothes on and head out to see what there is to do in this town."

Not much, it turned out. We went to Yodel Ranch to see the animals they were raising, mostly for Vaughn. He talked earnestly with an old man who was leading a sheep with a rope, about the finer points of animal raising, apparently. I yawned a little, shifting back and forth on my feet. I winced when my sore thighs rubbed together. Yeah, we definitely had to find other things to do. At least for today.

"Sorry, honey, are you bored?" Vaughn asked me, and I quickly stifled the yawn.

"N-no!" I fibbed.

He smirked down at me, playing with the brim of his hat. "Oh, I'm sorry…you must be tired from riding me all day."

"Vaughn!" I hissed at him. "Hush!" Luckily, the old man seemed to be somewhat deaf, because just kept rambling on about sheep. Vaughn smirked again, and I blushed, crossing my arms.

Later, we went to the hot springs. Vaughn sniffed disapprovingly. "They smell weird."

"It's because they're full of minerals, I guess," I argued, as I removed my clothing. We were in the small cedar room before the hot springs that was for changing. Vaughn gaped as I undressed fully. "What? Come on, you've seen it before."

"Yeah, but it's just…are you going to get in totally naked?"

I stared at him. "Well, yeah. That's what you're supposed to do, right? It's like a big bathtub."

"Well, this big bathtub is out in public! I'm not getting in there naked!" he retorted.

I sighed. "Well, we don't have bathing suits. So I guess we don't get in."

He shrugged. "We could wear our underwear in."

I mused this. "Well, I guess so." I put my panties and bra back on as he stripped to his boxers. We got into the hot springs, easing back into a comfortable position, with him holding me against his chest.

"It's so relaxing…" I murmured. We laid there for a while, then I turned my head in curiosity as the door to the cedar room opened. My face froze in shock as the old man from before walked out. Totally naked.

Vaughn seemed to think it was hilarious, and he whispered in my ear, "I guess you are supposed to get in naked!"

The old man clambered into the warm water, giving us a partially toothless grin as he did so. He swung one leg up to get in, and I saw more than I ever wanted to see. I turned my face away, whimpering slightly. The only man I had ever really seen naked was Vaughn, and there was a BIG difference between their bodies. Vaughn was lean and delicious and perfect, and this old man was hunched and covered in wrinkles everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

"Let's get out," I whispered.

Vaughn chuckled, and pulled me towards the exit. "My wife is getting overwhelmed by the heat in here. Better take her out before she faints," he said to the old man, who just nodded.

We hustled into the changing room. I shivered hard, partially from the change in temperature, and partially from the horrible memory of what I had just seen. Vaughn was still chuckling and smirking at my reaction, and I scowled at him. "Quit laughing," I wailed, and he pulled me in, kissing me lightly on the lips.

"You're just so innocent. I love it," he grunted, and kissed me again.

We pulled apart, and I realized something. "Um…we have to take off our wet underwear so that we can wear our dry clothes. Or should we put them on over the wet underwear? That doesn't seem like a good idea either."

He shrugged. "I guess we just have to go without underwear until we get back No big deal." He learned as we walked back to the inn that it was a big deal. While I was fine in my loose fitting cotton sundress, he was going commando under a pair of tight, rough black jeans. I had never seen such misery and pain on his face as there was during that long walk back. I carried our wet undergarments and struggled not to laugh at his hobbling to get him back for laughing at me earlier.

"Ugh," he groaned as we made it back into the room. He peeled off his jeans quickly, grimacing as he did so.

"Oh! Poor thing!" I exclaimed when I saw the result all the chafing. His already overworked manhood was looking very painful. I rushed forward to comfort him.

"Don't touch it!" he cried, and I couldn't help breaking down into laughter then. I fell back on the bed and rolled around, laughing so hard that tears came to my eyes. "Don't laugh!" he growled. "This isn't funny." He smirked at me. "You like it, don't you? Well, if it's hurt, you can't have any."

I stopped laughing suddenly. "Okay, it's not funny anymore." That made him start chuckling, and we both agreed to avoid the hot springs for the rest of the trip.


	23. Resting

Chapter 23

"For the love of the Goddess, please, Chelsea…don't touch it!" Vaughn commanded me, his face contorted in pain.

"Just let me look at it," I begged him.

"No. You say you want to look, and then you try to touch. I see your fingers wiggling! Urg…" He broke off in a grimace.

My new husband was hiding under the sheets of our honeymoon bed, trying to shield his injured manhood from me. I knew that it was terribly chafed from walking with no underwear on, but I wanted to see how bad it was. "Come on," I cooed. "It might need medical attention."

His eyes widened in horror. "No! I am not…letting some doctor look at it. No!" He winced as he tried to slightly turn his body away from me.

After several minutes of begging and pleading, he finally let me look at it. He held both of my wrists with one hand as he tugged the sheet down. I clucked my tongue at the awful sight. "You need some kind of medicine or something for that. It might get infected."

He sulked. "Well, I'm not going to the doctor."

"Fine," I said. "I'll just go and tell them what's wrong, and see if I can get some kind of …cream or something for it." He grumbled for a minute, but finally assented. I headed down to the dining area and asked the owner where the local clinic was. He directed me up the road, and I headed that way.

A very familiar face greeted me when I walked in. "My, my, if it isn't the girl who got rammed by a ram!" Dr. Trent said cheerfully. His brown eyes crinkled with laughter. "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name just now…"

"It's Chelsea," I reminded him.

"Chelsea, yes, that's right. Well, you seem to have recovered well. What brings you to Mineral Town?" he asked.

I blushed. "I'm on my honeymoon…" He beamed at me, giving all sorts of congratulations. I nodded and thanked him.

"So, then what seems to be the trouble? Or did you just stop by to say hello?" he asked, smiling at me benevolently.

"Um, there is trouble, but…" I felt my face get hot when I imagined trying to explain it to him.

Dr. Trent, being the good and observant doctor that he was, noticed my discomfort and pursed his lips, nodding sagely. "Let me get Elli, my nurse." I exhaled in relief, and he directed me to a patient area and then went to get Elli.

She appeared just a few moments, later, and she pulled the curtain behind us. "I'm Elli, Dr. Trent's wife and nurse. What seems to be the trouble?" she asked me in a smooth, calm voice.

"Well, um…" I took a deep breath and launched into the tale. Her eyes sparkled a bit as I finished, but she stayed professional and didn't laugh.

"We have something that I think might work." She excused herself for a moment and came back with a medicinal salve. "This has antibacterial properties, and also has a slightly numbing effect." She gave me detailed explanations on how to apply it, and I couldn't help but blush a little bit at the calm way she instructed me to "lightly massage it into his penis." I knew he was my husband and everything, but I was still rather embarrassed at the whole situation.

I paid for the salve and left, thanking both Elli and Dr. Trent. I headed back for the inn and went upstairs to Vaughn. He was sleeping, but he had thrown the covers off, and I had a clear shot at the problem area. My reasoning was that he might refuse to let me put it on, but if I could just get a little bit on it while he was sleeping, maybe it would start to feel better and he would let me treat it all. I worked open the jar, getting some on my fingers and creeping closer to him. He stirred in his sleep a little, snorting through his nose. I paused, waiting for him to lay still once again. When he did, I continued advancing. My hand hovered over the target, and then I swiftly moved it down and gently swiped some on him.

He growled, sitting straight up from sleep and cupping his hands protectively over himself. His eyes, still squinting semiconsciously, peered at me. "Chelsea?" I smiled sheepishly, displaying the jar of salve to him.

"It's from the clinic. For your…you know." He looked down, grimacing, and then he slowly moved his hands away and fell back onto the bed so that I could continue doctoring him.

The salve greatly helped his pain over the next two days. We couldn't do anything sexual while it healed, but we had kind of overdosed on it during the beginning of our honeymoon, so a break wasn't that bad of an idea. We had already discovered that the town was boring, and anyway, while he was healing, he wasn't exactly craving hikes or anything else that involved his thighs rubbing together. So, we laid in the bed and talked.

One day, we suddenly turned our attention to the TV that was facing the bed, on a dresser. Neither of us really watched TV, and of course we had our attention focused on other pastimes for a while there. But being bored made us curious, and I turned on the TV.

I flipped through the few channels that the inn got.

"Mechabot Ultror!" the TV screamed. "What adventures will happen this -" CLICK.

"…and I heard there is a kingfish in the mine. "Say what?" "Well…" CLICK.

"…then call in now folks! This fabulous, handy dandy mixer can be yours for the low, low price of -" CLICK.

The TV came to a channel that was entirely black. The words "Press Play for DVD" hovered in green letters on the screen. I shrugged, and then peered at the remote, finding the play button. Images snapped to the screen, and I squeaked as Vaughn chuckled. It was a man and a woman having sex!

"Wh-wh-what is this?" I stuttered, feeling my face get hot. I covered my eyes with my hands, but the sounds of their passion lured me to peek out.

Vaughn just gave a short laugh. "You're so innocent…"

I blushed more. "What, do you mean you've seen this kind of stuff before?" He just shrugged slightly, and I bit my lip, focusing on the couple on the screen. We watched the movie in silence for a few minutes. There was some sort of plot, apparently. The couple was a sex therapist and her boyfriend. They were being watched by a patient, who was trying to overcome her fears of intimacy. The sex therapist later blindfolded the patient and brought in her boyfriend, who kissed and teased at her. The patient was able to relax into the experience, for some sort of reason, since she couldn't see her boyfriend and get nervous, I guessed. They made love in a slow, unhurried way, like they were savoring each and every sensation.

I felt myself start to get aroused, and I squirmed in the bed. I tried to fight it, because I knew that Vaughn was probably not up to it yet. Yet I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Then Vaughn took my hand, and placed it in his lap. I felt his hardness, and I closed my eyes and sighed. I guess he was up to it after all.

I started to switch off the TV, but Vaughn motioned for me to leave it on. He kissed at the side of my neck as he traced one finger down my chest, making slow, tortuous circles over each nipple through my shirt. I gave a low moan, and he responded with a needy growl. Both of us kept our eyes fixed on the screen, watching the blindfolded woman and her boyfriend enjoying each other. I squeezed lightly at his recently injured manhood, earning a pleased groan, and I shivered with delight.

I was only wearing a small T-shirt and panties, and Vaughn raked his fingertips over my exposed stomach. I shuddered slightly, and he dropped his fingers to the tops of my thighs, teasing there momentarily. Then he slid one solitary finger all the way up my body, past my navel, between my breasts, up my throat. He brought it to my mouth and rubbed at my lower lip, then urged his finger in. I closed my eyes, moaning as I sucked at it. He groaned softly. I brought my hands up to stroke gently at his raised arm. I opened my eyes and he had focused his on me. We continued to gaze at each other as we slowly touched each other, but the sounds from the TV were definitely helping our arousal build.

He slipped his finger out of my mouth, and let it drop into my lap. He used his other hand to move the middle of my panties sideways, and then he stroked his wet finger over my even more wet flesh. I bit my lip and whined a little. I hadn't realized how badly I was craving him until he touched me there. Suddenly, I needed him inside of me more than anything in the world. It was all I could think about, all that existed for me in that moment. He plunged his finger inside of me as I was thinking all this, and I cried out in pleasure. Still, I wanted more. He seemed to sense it, and urged a second finger, and then a third, deep inside of me. I moaned and fell back on the bed, desperately whispering his name over and over. "V-Vaughn…I need you…" I managed to gasp brokenly.

He smirked, tugging off his boxers and moving over me. His hardness stuck out proudly, and I couldn't help but stare at it, lust and hunger burning in my eyes. I wanted to put my mouth on it so badly, but I knew that he still had a little bit of medicine on the surface of it, and I wasn't sure if it was okay to get in the mouth. But what about inside of me?

My thoughts were broken off as he peeled my panties off and centered his slim hips in between my spread thighs. "Oh, Vaughn…" I moaned, stroking lightly at his neck. He closed his eyes slightly, inhaling deeply through his nose, and then he plunged inside of me. I tossed my head back, crying out in pleasure. Yes! This was exactly what I wanted. He rocked against me slowly, then stopped to pull himself out almost all the way, very slowly, then pushed all the way back in, at the same unhurried pace. I pressed my lips together and sighed deeply, dropping my hands to his hips and guiding him against me.

We made love slowly, with purpose. I wanted to feel every single second of sensation that he could give me, and he seemed to want the same thing. He traced the fingertips of one hand over the side of my waist. "Oh, Chelsea…" he groaned. "You're so perfect…" I shuddered at the compliment, moaning and arching my back up at him, trying to get even more of him. He breathed softly into my ear, and goosebumps erupted over my entire body.

He somehow angled himself so that he could get his mouth on one breast, and he lapped gently at it. I moaned out his name, bringing my hands up to tangle in his soft, silvery hair. He brought his mouth to the other breast and kissed it as well. He pulled back up to my mouth then, pressing his lips to mine. His tongue slipped out carefully, parting my lips and then dancing inside my mouth. I sighed, sucking softly on his tongue, and he brought one hand up to my hair, stroking it gently.

We went on like this for quite some time. Even though I was incredibly close, I kept holding back, wanting these feelings to last longer. I was surprised that Vaughn hadn't made signals yet like he was close, but then I suddenly realized that the salve had slightly numbing effects, and maybe it was inhibiting him slightly. I didn't know how to ask him if that was the case or not without potentially killing the moment, so I just sighed and relaxed, enjoying the luxuriously slow lovemaking.

Just as I was thinking that, I heard the low, broken growl that he usually gave when he felt himself building up to his peak. I smiled softly, tilting my hips up to him and pressing my hands onto his lower back, urging him to keep in close to me. He complied, and I bit my lip, concentrating on all my might with each pulse he made against me. I felt warm all over as I became slightly dizzy, and then I cried out sharply as I climaxed. I continued to cry out over and over as the waves of pleasure broke over me. Vaughn gave a deeply satisfied groan, and then thrust at a quicker pace into me. I felt him twitch and shudder against my hips, and then he moaned out my name quietly as he released. I shivered all over, pleased that I had satisfied him, as he rocked slowly against me, savoring the aftershock.


	24. Make Me Sing

Author's Note: This is just a fun little chapter. I know I'm making it slightly "alternate universe" by putting real world songs in it, but I had to. My father owns a karaoke bar, and he's the DJ too, so when going to visit my dad, I've seen some pretty hilarious things. Making it even funnier is that my husband, who can be as sulky and reserved as Vaughn, becomes a giggling mess when you get a glass of wine in him and present him with bad karaoke. He loves musical humor. So yeah, all the singing that happens in this chapter occurred in my real life. Not all on the same night, though. Taro and Felicia is referring to me and my own father. Once I get two glasses of wine in me, I suddenly become Christine and start belting it out. Don't know if I'm any good or not. People say I am, but I AM the owner's daughter, so they might be kissing my ass. Who knows? Anyway, a fun little chapter with a twist of lemon at the end. Enjoy!

Chapter 24

"Dream on."

I sighed in disappointment at my husband. "Please? It'll be fun." I had received an invitation from Lanna, our local retired pop star, for a karaoke party at her house. I was initially thrilled, until I realized convincing Vaughn to go would be near impossible.

Vaughn just snorted at me. "Psh. Fun for who? I don't want to see a bunch of idiots make fools of themselves." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Or maybe I do. It might be pretty hilarious." He snorted again.

"Okay, so is that a yes?" I asked hopefully. He shrugged, and I decided to take it as an affirmation. Though having him go to laugh at people wasn't exactly what I had in mind, I just wanted to have him with me.

On the night of the party, I found myself getting nervous. I had been excited about singing, but Vaughn's comments about watching people make fools of themselves was terrifying me. What if he laughed at me? That would be devastating. I approached him after dinner. "Honey? You're not going to make fun of me, right?"

Vaughn looked surprised. "Of course not. Why would I do that?"

"Because...because you said it was going to be fun to watch people mess up."

Vaughn chuckled. "But, Chelsea,_ you're_ not going to mess up."

I bit my lip. "I might...besides, you've never heard me sing."

He chuckled again. "Of course I have. You're always doing it in the shower."

I reddened. "You can hear that?"

He smirked. "Of course I can. It echoes. And you're good. So, I won't be making fun of you tonight." He came forward to kiss me on the forehead. "And anyway, if you really were bad, I wouldn't let you go to this, anyway. I'd have to beat the hell out of anyone who laughed at my wife, whether your singing was bad or not." I smiled up at him, hoping that I would do well after all, and that he wouldn't have to beat anyone up for me.

So, we set out for the party. We were fashionably late, and almost all the people in town were already there. Vaughn motioned with his head towards the back of the crowd, and we settled in to watch the show. He leaned back lazily in the chair, his long legs jutting out, his arms folded carelessly over this chest. "This is gonna be great," he smirked. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, so I just smiled. Lanna hurried over with a book of songs for me to look through, and some paper and a pen. Denny was running the karaoke machine.

Natalie was up at the mike, warbling a rather strange rendition of "I Touch Myself." Pierre, although now comfortable with being sexual with Natalie, was squirming quite _un_comfortably as she sang "I don't want anybody else, when I think about you, I touch myself!" while writhing suggestively and pointing at him.

Gannon got up to the mike next, surprising everybody. We were waiting to see what he would sing. "JO JA!" he grunted into the microphone, as the opening strains of "Georgia" could be heard. I heard weird whimpering noises and I glanced over at Vaughn. He was barely holding in his laughter, tears budding in his eyes as he struggled not to laugh at the big man's terrible performance.

Chen got up, singing "Hotel California" in a strange falsetto. This too, struck Vaughn as funny for some reason, and halfway through, he stood up hurriedly, rushing out the door. I could hear him exploding in laughter from outside. No one else seemed to notice; I doubt anyone there other than me had ever heard Vaughn laugh out loud, so no one recognized the sound. He returned when Chen was done singing, and sat down next to me. His face was unusually relaxed, and a little smile curved the edges of his face.

"Well, did you get a good laugh?" I asked him. He nodded, biting his lip and trying not to laugh more. "I swear, you're terrible!" I chided him. "These people are trying their hardest, and you're laughing at it!"

He shrugged. "I know it's bad to laugh, but I can help it. That's my one weakness; musical humor."

I flipped through the book absentmindedly, trying to make a choice. I pointed out a cheesy love song by Peter Cetera. "Vaughn..." I cooed. "If you really loved me, you'd get up and do that."

He made a disgusted face. "Aw, hell no! Not in a million years. But I do really love you." He flicked the page. "Just not in a lame ass way like that."

Mirabelle was up next, singing a rather decent version of "Something To Talk About." I was kind of surprised, then shot a glance at Vaughn. "Okay, 'Giggles', don't you dare laugh at your aunt. That would be so mean."

He held his hands up and looked at me innocently. "I only laugh when it's bad! Honestly!"

Elliot got up to sing, and Vaughn had already started snickering when he took the mic. "Vaughn..." I warned, giving him a look. "Give him a chance." He stifled his snickering, and we were both surprised when the usually awkward boy launched into a confident, rather entertaining rendition of "Ice Ice Baby." Julia was cheering and shaking her rather ample bosom at him, which I noted with a little smirk.

I finally selected a song, giving it to Denny on a little piece of paper. I sat back down, waiting my turn. Lanna got up, singing her one hit, "Jealousy." We all watched, enjoying a performance by an actual singer, and Vaughn didn't once laugh or snicker. We clapped when it was over, and to my dismay, Denny called my name next. I turned to Vaughn. "Oh no! I can't follow that!"

"You'll be fine," he assured me, patting my back. I took a deep breath and stood up, advancing to the front of the room. I sang "Save the Best for Last." My voice was a little shaky when I started, feeling nervous to have to follow an act like Lanna's, but I eventually warmed up and relaxed, belting it out before the song was over. When I sat back down, Vaughn patted me. "See, you did great." I smiled sheepishly, and turned my attention to the stage again.

Taro and Felicia got up next, doing a rather chilling and inspired duet of "Phantom of the Opera." I was surprised at how smooth his voice was, and Felicia was really able to nail the high notes at the end. After that, Julia and Elliot got up, singing "My Humps." We all laughed and cheered. Julia played it up perfectly, and Elliot surprised everyone once again by being quite smooth.

After the party was over, Vaughn and I headed for home. Once we were inside, Vaughn wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me in and leaning down to kiss at my neck. "I liked hearing your voice tonight," he purred in my ear, and I trembled. "But..." He traced one finger up my chest and over my throat. "I'd like to hear your voice in a ...different way now." A low moan escaped my lips at his words.

"V-Vaughn..." I whispered, as he began unbuttoning my blouse.

"Mmm...surely you can do better than that. I want to _really _hear your voice. Guess I'll have to encourage it out of you." He smirked as he reached inside my bra with one hand, teasing at my nipple with his slightly calloused fingers. I groaned and bit my lip.

He teased me a bit longer. "Hmmm...? Not there? Well...how about here?" His strong hand slid down my stomach, slipping between my skin and my jeans. He nimbly found where I was the wettest, and stroked there lightly.

"Oh!" I cried out.

"Mmm...that's it," he groaned. He pushed me back towards the bed, swiftly removing my clothing. I was laying on my back, and he pushed my knees back towards my chest, then leaned forward over the edge of the bed and lowered his head. My breath hitched in my throat as I saw where he was headed, and I rolled my eyes back in my head when his warm, wet tongue found me.

"Oh, Vaughn," I moaned. I continued to cry out as he caressed me with his tongue; gently at first, but with steadily more powerful pressure. He slipped a hand up near his mouth and teased at me with his fingers. I writhed underneath him, crying out with pleasure.

"Vaughn! Vaughn! I want you, now!" I looked down at him as he lifted his face up from me.

He leered at me. "Hmmm?" he drawled lazily. "What was it that you wanted?" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and I shuddered.

"I want you," I moaned.

"But I'm right here," he replied, teasing me.

"No...I _want _you," I continued to moan.

"Be specific, Chelsea. What do you want?" My face grew hot.

"I want you to fuck me, Vaughn!" I cried out.

"That's it," he growled, moving up over me. He ripped his clothes off in next to no time at all, and within seconds had plunged deep inside of me. I screamed in pleasure. "Yeah...I love it when you're loud," he grunted. He rocked into me, undulating against my body.

I was so worked up with pleasure, I hardly had control of my mouth any longer. "Fuck me harder!" I demanded. Vaughn gave a low groan and then complied, giving it to me full force. I knew in the back of my mind that I was going to be sore tomorrow, but at that point, I didn't care. "Oh yes," I moaned. I could hear the sound of his skin slapping against mine, and it was infinitely arousing. I scratched at his back with my nails, and thrust my hips up at him. "I'm...almost there...make me come, Vaughn," I cried out brokenly, and he grabbed at my hips, thrusting even more furiously into me.

My screams of pleasure signalled him of my ascent. He arched his back fiercely, his torso pulling away from mine in his overwhelming ecstasy. He gave a throaty sex cry, then groaned as he gave one last deep thrust. "Chelsea," he whispered, then collapsed down onto me.

We laid together, panting, for a few moments, and then he withdrew and rolled off of me. I turned my head to look at him. "So, did you like my voice?" I asked, a naughty smile hovering on my lips.

"Oh yeah," he growled, rolling on his side and ravishing my lips with a deep kiss. "Chelsea...I love you."

"I love you too," I replied, snuggling to him.


	25. The End

**Author's Note: Okay, I don't know why I didn't do this before, but I've disabled anonymous reviews. I allowed them before because I wanted people who didn't have a ffnet account to make reviews. But all it's turned into lately is people harassing me about "finishing" these older stories. Now, I don't mind people saying they want me to finish old stories. In fact, sometimes, the right amount of wistful longing and praise of an old story can get me to start thinking about that story, and revive it from the dead. But calling me lazy, saying you're pissed, or insulting the current stories I'm working on is NOT the right way to go about it. Let me remind you that I write these stories for fun. Almost all my stories (besides the Junjou ones) are game stories, and I usually get the fever to write them while I'm playing the game. However, when I finish the game, there goes my inspiration for the story. Often too abruptly for me to round out the story. I could just mark the story completed and be done with it, but I leave them open because just maybe I'll start playing the game again and feel inspired to make a new chapter, or a PLEASANT review might spark a new idea for me. (Not once have I ever written a new chapter for a story because someone tried to bully or insult me into doing it.) And I don't think that leaving my stories open-ended is this horrible crime. I don't write angsty drama or thrillers, so it's not like I leave things on a cliffhanger. You're not waiting to see if a character really died or not, or if the star crossed lovers will be reunited. No, I leave them off in happy domestic bliss. If there's a new chapter, it would be another glimpse into that happy bliss. I know it's easy to get hooked on a story, and I know that disappointment when you reach the last chapter and there's no more. But I am not a writing machine, I'm a person with a life. You're not paying to read these and I'm not getting paid. **

**So I'm disabling anonymous reviews, and I'm giving a pat ending for each of my open stories, so that you handful of anonymous reviewers can sleep at night, knowing adventures are over for your favorite couple! **

A few days later, Chelsea found out she was pregnant. She gave birth to the cutest pair of twins, a boy and a girl. Vaughn was a surprisingly good daddy. And they lived happily ever after.

THE END.


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